German GP: Lewis Hamilton left pushing broken down Mercedes as Sebastian Vettel takes pole
World champion clambered out of his cockpit and tried to wheel his car back to the pits as he is left devastated after hydraulic failure before Sebastian Vettel storms to pole
LEWIS HAMILTON'S hopes of retaining his Formula One title suffered another blow after conking out in qualifying.
The Brit looked distraught as he sat crouched next to his stricken F1 car, with his head pressed against it.
It got worse too as his title rival, Sebastian Vettel, took pole, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Hamilton, who this week signed a new £80million two-year deal with Mercedes, is now likely to start down in 14th place for Sunday's race given Daniel Ricciardo's host of grid penalties for new engine parts.
The incident happened midway through the second qualifying session when he went off track at Turn One, seemingly breaking his F1 car in the process.
Moments later, he was told to stop the car immediately by his team due to a hydraulic failure -- he was unable to change gear.
He made a valiant attempt to single-handedly push his broken F1 car for a MILE back to the pits.
Unsurprisingly, the race stewards took a dim view of his efforts and soon told him to park up at Turn 10.
Hamilton could not hide his emotions as he prowled the paddock after making his way back on the back of a scooter.
He said: "It definitely was a tough one but these things happen and all you can do is try and gather your thoughts and live to fight another day, another opportunity to rise, so I'll give everything tomorrow to see how high I can get up but it's not going to be like Silverstone."
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Asked where he hopes to finish tomorrow, he said: "I'm sure I'll be able to get through to some point, but to where I don't know."
And asked if the hydraulic failure was caused by his airborne moment in turn one, he replied that it "failed before then"
His early exit allowed Vettel to turn the screw in what is Mercedes' home race, while he too grew up 20 minutes away from the track.
The German crowd roared with delight as he took provisional pole ahead of Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas, who also signed a new deal with Merc, struck back with a blistering lap time.
However, there was still time for the Ferrari man to clinch pole with a brilliant last-ditch flying lap.
Vettel said: "It was amazing to see so many red flags, German flags, so much support around the track.
"I felt in Q1 that the car could do it and sometimes you just know. It just kept getting better and better and I knew in the last lap I had more in me and I was able to squeeze everything out.
"I'm very happy."
Meanwhile, it was also another disastrous day for McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne who qualified in last place.
The Belgian has now been smashed 11-0 by his teammate Fernando Alonso and in serious risk of losing his place at the team for next season.