The seven-time worl♑d champion looked very competitive throughout qualifying and appeared to be in contention to mix it up with the Red Bull and Fꦐerraris at the top of the timesheet before his Q3 accident. 

Hamilton lost control of his W13 through Turn 7 and ended up smashing into the barriers during his first proper flying lap o🙈f the final session, leaving his Merce🐽des with hefty damage. 

The 37-year-old immediately apologised over the radio to Mercedes, who believed Hamilton was on for the top three heading up to his uncharacteristic cra🐽sh. 

“I’m OK. It was a big hit but I’ꦫm OK,” said Hamilton, before adding: “I’m incredibly disappointed in myself, ultimately. 

“I’m so sorry to the team, everyone worked so hard to put this car together and I never like to damage it or bring it back damaged.ඣ 

After making encouraging progress at last weekend’s British Grand Prix, Mercedes were not expecting to take th🐼e🍌ir new-found momentum into Austria and a venue they have struggled at in recent years. 

Yet Hamilton was less than 🍎0.2s slower than pacesetter Charles Leclerc in Q2 and looked set to carry his impressive speed into the top-10 shootout before his session-ending accident.  

Hamil🔜ton will be looking to recover groun♎d quickly from 10th on the grid during Saturday’s sprint, which will set the starting order for Sunday’s grand prix. 

“I am encourꦛaged of course to see our performance, we were not expecting to be as close as that today so that’s a h𒊎uge positive from the team,” said Hamilton. 

“But I’m really quite far back, so I don’t know what’s possible from there💮 but we have a sprint race as well so I hope that to💃morrow I can make up some lost time.”

Mercedes drivers ‘should not beat themselves up’ 

Remarkably💞, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell also crashed out in Q3. 

The B🍸riton wa🌱s the first driver out on track following Hamilton’s accident and immediately caused a second red flag when he spun off and rear-ended the barriers at the final corner. 

Rus🍸sell is set to start fifth for the sprint after his initial Q3 run was n💧ot bettered when the session resumed. 

“We need to review the crash damage and there's nothiဣng lucky or fortunate about making a mistake like t🌜hat,” said Russell. 

“It could have been P𓃲4 - I was a tenth up on my lap and absolutely went for it because I thought there was an o♉pportunity for third. As it turned out, probably not.

“We just need to see how much damage ♕is done so sorry to the team and the guys in the gara✃ge.”

Russell added: “I’m not getting carried awa🦂y, Leᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚwis was doing a phenomenal job, he was absolutely flying today. 

“I think I probably went the wrong way with the set-up for qualifying but maybe in a good place for the race. I fe💦el OK physically, I’m just a bit concerned about the car and if we can recover it.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff insisted ther𓂃e is no reason for either Hamilton or Russell to “beat themselves up” for their respective crashes given the circumstances they find themselves in.

“These two should never beat themselves up for crashing ⛎out,” Wolff explained. "We have giꦛven them a car which wasn’t on par for 10 races in a row.

“Now we are starting to come to terms, we are able to drive in front, and it ca🐬n happen that you just lose the car.

“�🧜�I’d rather have a fast car and a qualifying like this, than not having the pace to be in the top four.”