BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Lewis Hamilton took full responsibility for the accident that ruined his qualifying session in Baku and left him tenth on the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix of Europe.
The Mercedes cars had the pace to lock out the front row of the grid in Baku, but a series of driving errors left Hamilton without a representative lap time in the final qualifying session as teammate Nico Rosberg breezed to pole position.
Earlier mistakes in Q2 left Hamilton with just one set of tyres for the pole position shootout and as he approached Turn 15 on his first quick lap he locked up and ran wide. He was able to regroup for another attempt on the same set of tyres, but as he exited the complex of corners around Baku's Old City walls he clipped the barrier on the inside of Turn 11 and broke his front-right suspension.
"I don't think Baku bit me, I think I tried to take too much and I tried to bite it and it didn't work," he said afterwards. "It's more me, it's nothing to do with the track, nothing to do with the team, I was just not driving well today."
Hamilton explained that set-up changes overnight had left him uncomfortable with the car.
"It is definitely a track where you have to take some chances, but today it was not even about that. It was just not getting the groove -- one corner was good, one corner was bad. It was the most uncomfortable I have been in the car for a long, long time. I can't really express or understand it exactly.
"Yesterday was great; some changes over night, and it was not the same today. But, still, I will do what I can with it tomorrow, and try and recover." Set-up changes between qualifying and the race would result in a pit lane start, but Hamilton is hoping he feels more comfortable with the car come race day. "I have no idea [if I can get back in the groove], but yesterday was really a nice day, so if I can back to there then I will be in a good position for tomorrow.
"I'll try to get away from the hustle and bustle here as early as possible, get a good night's sleep, and then come back tomorrow and try and pick it up."