Lewis Hamilton risks missing Monaco Grand Prix qualifying after slamming his Ferrari into a wall during qualifying in another major setback for the Brit. The frustrating incident happened with only minutes of the third practice session remaining on Monte-Carlo.

Hamilton's front left wheel kissed the outside barrier as he careered around Turn 3, known as Massenet, sending him skidding across the track and into the wall on the opposite side. His front right wheel flew off and rolled across the road. A red flag was waved to halt the race while the seven-time world champion climbed out of his car and stewards removed it from the track. Looking visibly annoyed as he emerged from the cockpit unscathed, Hamilton returned to collect an item from his car before briskly walking away from the incident.

Speaking over the team radio, Hamilton said: "S***! Guys, I hit the wall. Damn, sorry guys."

Charles Leclerc, who enjoyed a fantastic session, showed his frustration over the team radio. The Monegasque driver asked what had happened for the race to be stopped, and responded "F***" when he was informed that it was his team-mate who had crashed.

Hamilton could now risk missing the qualifying session, which is scheduled to take place a little over two hours after Hamilton's collision. Any major work could keep the 40-year-old out of the session at 3pm in what could be the latest blow in a difficult first year with the Scuderia outfit.

“I think they will change it just to be safe,” said Sky Sports commentator Karun Chandhok. “They had that incident here with Charles Leclerc where they didn’t change it, and it burned them. They didn’t change the gear box and he crashed in qualifying on that occasion because of the implications.”

David Croft interjected: “You’ll remember, the very next day, he didn’t start the race. From the highs of Charles Leclerc, fastest in that session, to the lows of Lewis Hamilton, who has crashed.”

Stewards briefly pondered whether an investigation could be necessary, with Kimi Antonelli and Esteban Ocon driving slightly slower in front of Hamilton. However, they decided to take no further action. Hamilton and his car will now face a race against time to be ready for qualifying.

With only slightly more than a minute of the session remaining, qualifying was not resumed. Leclerc ended the session fastest, just trumping Max Verstappen to the top of the leaderboard.