Lewis Hamilton believes he might as well start from the pit lane in the United States GP in order to have a free change of set-up for Sunday’s race after a “nightmare” qualifying session left him on the back two rows of the grid.
The record six-time winner of the US GP – five victories of which have come at the Circuit of the Americas – was unexpectedly knocked out in the first stage of qualifying on Saturday after setting the 19th-fastest time out of the 20 drivers. He is due to start one place higher in 18th owing to an engine penalty for RB’s Liam Lawson.
Hamilton’s shock early exit came amid a miserable Saturday for Mercedes in Austin.
Despite the promise shown in Friday’s initial running as they introduced their final upgrade package of the season, the team went in to Saturday’s qualifying on the back of a disappointing 19-lap Sprint race earlier in the day when Hamilton and team-mate George Russell had badly struggled with tyre wear, finishing in distant sixth and fifth positions respectively.
Hamilton then dropped out early in qualifying for Sunday’s full-length race before Russell’s session ended in the barriers when he crashed out at the end of Q3 when only a provisional sixth on the grid.
Speaking after his first-ever Q1 exit in Austin in 12 visits, Hamilton revealed his day had been sent into a tailspin by a mechanical problem on his way to the grid in the Sprint.
“In the Sprint we had some sort of failure from the formation lap on the front suspension,” explained Hamilton.
“I had that throughout the Sprint race. That made the balance really difficult.
“We changed a couple of things which pushed us in the direction in what we would have done yesterday. The car was a nightmare in qualifying.
“I should probably start in the pit lane, otherwise I won’t be going anywhere from where I am.”
Teams trigger an automatic pit-lane start for their car if they take it out of post-qualifying ‘parc ferme’, by choice or necessity, to make fundamental changes to set-up.
As well as overhauling his W15, Mercedes could change the car’s wing settings in order to give Hamilton a better chance of overtaking cars and mounting a comeback towards the points.
Hamilton and Russell both started their final attempts of Q1 in the drop zone after failing to set competitive times on an initial used set of soft tyres. But while Russell progressed to Q2 in fourth place after they switched to new tyres for the final runs, Hamilton’s initially-promising start to his lap completely unravelled when he ran wide under braking at Turn 12.
Apologetic Russell says Mercedes ‘nowhere’ with car set-up
While Mercedes managed to get one car in the grid’s top 10 with Russell, that result ultimately proved of little consolation for team or driver given how the session finished up for the 26-year-old.
Pushing to improve his grid placing on his final attempt of Q3, Russell lost control of his car rounding the penultimate corner, Turn 19, and spun off the track and into hefty side-on impact with the barriers, badly damaging the upgraded car.
Russell, who climbed out of the W15 unaided, admitted he was possibly pushing too hard in the closing stages of an initially-promising lap that had started to get away from him.
“It was a great lap until Turn 12 when I was four-and-a-half tenths up,” said Russell, whose car now has to undergo significant repairs in time for Sunday’s race.
“I lost a bit at Turn 12, similar to Lewis yesterday, then lost loads of lap time. Still probably a tenth or so quicker than my previous lap.
“I went into the penultimate corner turned in, then the thing went on me, caught me by surprise. Maybe I was over-pushing.
“Pretty disappointed with the damage caused to the car and the work that will go on tonight and a little confused that both Lewis and I were in the fight for pole yesterday and today we were nowhere.”
Apologising to the team for the crash, Russell added: “The car didn’t feel as put together but the pace was coming easily yesterday. Today it just was not.
“It seems like such a theme that when we find the sweet spot we have a car that’s capable of pole positions and wins. When we can’t, we are nowhere.
“Apologies to the team. They have worked hard to bring these upgrades and it’s really disappointing from my side with the outcome.”
Sky Sports F1’s live United States GP schedule
Sunday October 20
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Sunday’s race build-up from 7.15pm)
Watch the United States GP at 8pm on Sunday, with build-up from 6.30pm live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime