LEWIS HAMILTON suffered a disaster in Madrid as he retired from the Spanish Grand Prix following a brake issue.
The Brit was hoping to score well at the inaugural race in the Spanish capital.
However, just seven laps into the race the seven-time world champion was forced to come into the pits and retire after suffering a brake failure in his Ferrari.
Hamilton went into a run-off zone during the race which dropped him down to 14th before he said down the team radio: “I can barely stop the car.”
His race engineer Carlo Santi told him to bring the stricken Ferrari back into the pits before retiring from the race.
The 41-year-old had started the race well after jumping from fourth on the grid from qualifying up to third.
But Hamilton then started to suffer from a braking issue which lead to him retiring from the race.
It is the first time he has retired from a race this season.
Hamilton, who said the Madring was the most difficult track he has seen since Saudi Arabia‘s Jeddah Corniche Circuit, didn’t have the best of luck around the Madring on Saturday either after crashing in FP3.
Midway through the final practice session, Hamilton had looked as though he was about to go fastest, but instead he put it in the wall at the final corner.
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He managed to reverse out of the wall and was moving again, but there was major damage to the front wing.
Hamilton then ignored instructions from his engineer to stop the car on track and was instead trying to get it all the way back round to the pits.
He had been repeatedly told to “stop the car” but carried on with a puncture, before finally limping to a halt on track.
The red flag came out and the session was temporarily stopped as the barrier had to be repaired.
He had previously all but ruled out his chances in the drivers championship fight this season, and retirement in Spain this weekend should put it beyond doubt.
Hamilton wasn’t the only star to crash out of racing sessions across the weekend.
F2 driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak saw his car burst into flames during qualifying after crashing into the wall.
Fortunately the Thai driver walked away unharmed.
Lance Stroll also followed Hamilton in crashing out of the F1 race in Madrid.