Lewis Hamilton issues apology to Mercedes as damning radio message emerges after disastrous F1 Qatar GP

Lewis Hamilton has spoken out to apologise to Mercedes after one controversial moment in the Qatar Grand Prix

In the penultimate race of the 2024 Formula One season, Max Verstappen claimed victory at the Qatar Grand Prix just one week after claiming his fourth-consecutive Drivers Championship title.

Ahead of the race, a dramatic qualifying session saw Verstappen lose his pole position due to a final lap incident with British driver George Russell.

But Russell wasn't the only Mercedes driver involved in drama during the race weekend, as teammate Hamilton has apologised to Mercedes for one incident during the race on Sunday.

Hamilton suffered a difficult Grand Prix in Qatar, starting the race in sixth and finishing it as far back as 12th after a false start earned him a five-second penalty was made worse by a puncture about halfway into the race.

The British driver was then handed another penalty during a safety car shortly after after he sped in the pit lane and, after being instructed to come in and serve the penalty, Hamilton had a heated exchange with race engineer Peter Bonnington.

“Park the car mate. Retire the car," suggested Hamilton after being told to come in a serve the new penalty.

But Bonnington was adamant that Hamilton would finish the race, prompting the seven-time champion to add: “I'm switching off when I get there mate.”

The engineer remained firm and reminded his driver: “If you want a 5-second penalty in the next race then it's fine. We only have to do one more lap but we will drive through the pit lane.”

Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of the season to instead drive for Ferrari next year. (Image: Getty)

Hamilton went on to finish the race, despite being offered the chance to retire the car later on.

And after the race was finished, Hamilton took time to apologise to his F1 team, saying: “We were very, very far off in the beginning and we didn’t have enough wing in to start with, the cars were quite different and it wasn’t really great to drive.

"But my fault today so apologises to the team for the false start and then the pit-lane incident.

"Don’t judge me by how many times I fall but I'm going to get up tomorrow and give it another go. The car and I don’t get along really that well."