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Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton out in Q1 after car catches fire

Lewis Hamilton's Formula 1 qualifying woes continued at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday when a fuel leak in Q1 caused his Mercedes car to burst in to flames

The Briton had been hoping for a trouble-free run to take his first pole position since the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

But Hamilton's qualifying session lasted just a few minutes when his car caught fire following a fuel leak.

Although marshals attended to the fire when Hamilton stopped in the pit lane entry, the damage to his car was extensive.

Hamilton was hugely disappointed with his second successive car problem in qualifying, having suffered brake failure in Q1 at last weekend's German Grand Prix.

"I think it is getting to the point where it is beyond bad luck," said Hamilton, who will start 21st on the grid. "We need to do better."

Hamilton told television crews after returning to the paddock that the issue came up on his first flying lap.

"I bailed out of that timed lap that I was doing and was going to do a second lap, and then something happened to my brakes," he said.

"Something in the brake system failed. I had to engage some systems, and then the engine just died.

"I was right next to the pit lane entry so I thought I could roll back [to the garage] but then I looked in the mirror and realised I was on fire.
"It was on fire but I was still trying to get to the garage. I thought maybe we could still do something.

"Then they said 'stop, stop, stop'. It's all pretty bad."

HAMILTON'S QUALIFYING WOES
Hamilton's last pole position came at the Spanish Grand Prix back in May. Since then, he has had a run of troubles in qualifying that have served to dent his title hopes:

MONACO: 2nd after he has to abort a lap when Nico Rosberg runs off at the end of Q3

CANADA: 2nd after locking up on final run in Q3

AUSTRIA: 9th after running wide on first Q3 effort and then spinning on second effort

BRITAIN: 6th after mistakenly aborting his final lap in Q3

GERMANY: 20th after suffering brake disc failure in Q1

HUNGARY: 21th after fuel leak causes fire in Q1

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