Lewis Hamilton suffers shock early qualifying exit after costly mistake

Lewis Hamilton will start the Miami Grand Prix 12th at best following a mistake in qualifying.

The Ferrari driver was struggling on the brakes throughout the session, and only narrowly escaped Q1 after a heavy lock-up at Turn 17 cost him his first lap.

He then used a second set of new soft tyres to get through, but in Q2, another lock-up on his final lap left the seven-time champion outside the bubble for Q3 by 0.039s.

Hamilton also ran wide and lost time through Turns 1 and 2 on the lap, as he will be on the sixth row, alongside Isack Hadjar in 11th. 

It is not Hamilton's worst start in Miami, which was P13 for Mercedes in 2023.

Hamilton had finished third in the Sprint race earlier in the day.