Lewis Hamilton’s glum four-word radio message after losing Hungary pole

Lewis Hamilton has apologised to Mercedes after suffering a nightmare start at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver had started from pole position but found himself down in P4 just moments later.

Max Verstappen dived up the inside of his former title rival at turn one with Hamilton losing time as he tried to cling on. It allowed Oscar Piastri to slip past on the exit of turn one while team-mate Lando Norris got through at turn three.

After a difficult start to the race, Hamilton took to the team radio to take responsibility. He said: “Sorry about that guys”.

But race engineer Peter Bonnington supported his driver and stressed their afternoon was by no means over. The Mercedes chief replied: “Don’t sweat it, Lewis. It’s going to be a long, hot race.”

“If there was it was incredibly light, we haven’t seen any damage on the car.” Horner even suggested that Verstappen’s superb start was down to Red Bull’s set-up decisions earlier in the weekend.

He added: “I think you can see the compromise we went for in qualy is giving him a good race car today.” Despite being the quickest man on Saturday, Hamilton struggled for pace in the opening phase of the Grand Prix.

He was unable to match the race pace of the two McLaren’s as Piastri and Norris began to build a gap. Hamilton appeared to accept he could not compete with his former team as he cut a frustrated figure behind the cockpit.

The 38-year-old told his engineers over team radio: “Definitely don’t have the pace to overtake these guys.” Later on, Hamilton continued to be fazed by the race pace of the McLaren duo. He added: “How have they got nine seconds all of a sudden. That’s a crazy amount.”

The seven-time champion then questioned the performance of his own machine as he dropped almost 20 seconds behind Verstappen. He asked: “Are you turning the engine down?” But Bonnington responded: “Negative, Lewis. Just managing the temp situation.”