Lewis Hamilton crashes in new Mercedes at Monaco Grand Prix practice

The Mercedes driver set the fatest first sector of the session before colliding with the barrier in Monaco

Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barriers to bring third practice to an abrupt end at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion lost control of his revamped Mercedes through the right-hander Mirabeau and ended up in the wall.

Hamilton sustained front suspension damage in the low-speed accident with his Mercedes team now facing a race against time to repair his car for qualifying at 4pm local time (3pm UK).

“Sorry about that, mate,” said Hamilton on the radio, shortly before trudging away from his broken machine with his hands behind his back.

“No worries, we will sort it,” replied Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington.

Hamilton was running in eighth place before he crashed out with just five minutes remaining.

The 38-year-old had set the fastest first sector of the session before hitting the wall.

It meant Max Verstappen topped the timesheets heading into qualifying on Saturday, with Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez second.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was third.