The mistakes that cost Lewis Hamilton a podium at F1’s US GP

Lewis Hamilton has explained the reasons why the podium narrowly eluded him in Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver started from fifth on the grid and jumped Isack Hadjar for fourth at lights out, despite being the only driver on used (soft) tyres for the opening stint.

But Hamilton lost 0.277s per lap to team-mate Charles Leclerc during that stint, as well as 0.422s to Max Verstappen, with the pair on new soft tyres. Those few seconds corresponded to the time the Briton was missing to beat Verstappen to third at the end of the Austin race – and perhaps surpass Leclerc for second.

The main reason for that early lack of pace, according to the seven-time world champion, was his suboptimal set-up in the opening stint – the consequence of pursuing wrong avenues in free practice.

“I was lacking pace in the first two stints, basically. I just couldn't turn the car,” Hamilton said.

“Ultimately, it all kind of started on Friday. Wrong set-up really for FP1 and went the wrong direction in FP2, reverted back and got to a better place in FP3.

“But there's a subtle difference between Charles’ and my car, basically, just in the race. It's just to do mostly with flap, how much wing you put in, and I think we've just been under-hitting it – continuously under-hitting it for some reason.

“When you do the laps of the grid, it feels like the car is good. And then as soon as the race starts, it's just massive washout and understeer. I couldn't do anything about it, so they just pulled away. I lost those eight seconds, and that was really why I didn't get that [third] position in the end.”

He added: “Through the pitstops, I added four clicks [of front wing angle], the next pitstop I added another four clicks, and even then, I'm still another four clicks too short. And it's crazy to be 12 clicks down. We really need to look at how we get into that point.

Photo by: Logan Riely / Getty Images

“But I think it would have been a bit different if we had started with it in FP2, where you did the long run. That's where Charles got the experience on that set-up, and I didn't get the long run on it.

“So, as I said, I got a bit on the back foot, but lots of positives to take from it. The team did a really great job with pitstops and the strategy, and we obviously had a decent pace today, particularly the last stint. If I had that in the first two, we would have for sure been on the podium.”

Hamilton’s struggle was compounded by his tyre choice; he did switch to the hard compound for the last stint instead of another set of mediums as initially planned, but the harm had been done.

“I chose to have two medium tyres because they didn't think the hard tyre was going to be any good,” he explained. “In hindsight, two hard tyres would have been the better one – the hard tyre was the best tyre.

“And then it meant I started on a used soft which, from used to new, is two seconds of race time. And it affects the start as well compared to others that are all new. All the cars ahead are new, but I had a really good start, nearly got to third place, but Charles got the outside and I didn't get to capitalize on that.”

Hamilton was also hindered by the late virtual safety car intervention to recover Valtteri Bottas’ stricken Cadillac. His fresher tyres meant he was catching Verstappen by nearly one second per lap, but the neutralisation thwarted his recovery.

When asked if things might have been different without the VSC, Hamilton replied: “Probably I would have had a little bit of a battle with Max, maybe the last couple of laps. Yeah, that would have been awesome. But, as I said, I think it was all a result of the first two stints where I just lost so much ground. I can't be giving up that time in the future.

“I really feel like I'm happy with how I drove. It just took two whole stints to try and get this car to turn. And then once it started to turn in the third stint, I was back on pace with the guys ahead. But it's a big gap to close. It's eight, nine seconds or whatever it was to the car ahead, and those guys were obviously very quick. So, I’ve just got to work on not losing that.”

Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Leclerc took Ferrari’s third-consecutive podium finish but was disappointed to end up 13 seconds adrift of race winner Kimi Antonelli.

“I enjoyed it,” the Monegasque commented. “The start was fun, then later on with Lando [Norris] and Max again was quite fun. So, it's one of those races where you're not getting too bored inside the cockpit and there's something to play for.

“I even thought the victory was possible at one point when I saw Kimi going for the one-stop. Based on our numbers, he would start to struggle a bit more towards the end of the race. He never really struggled towards the end of the race, but, yeah, it's been a fun race. A shame just that we came short of winning.”

Ferrari is now on a nine-round winless streak and despite recent encouraging signs, Leclerc is unsure he can turn his pace into victory soon.

“Whether I can convert that into a win is a bit difficult to predict, because it's such fine margins, and it also depends on what the upgrade plans of the others are in upcoming races,” he said.

“But the feeling with the car is getting better and better. These cars are very specific and unique, and I feel like, over the last two or three races, I've unlocked something again in terms of driving, and particularly set-up with my driving. Just both together, we've taken a step forward, and I just feel much more comfortable with the car.

“So I hope that this will result in a win soon. Whether it's in Singapore or here in Austin, we were quite close, so I'm confident that we'll have a shot to win a race before the end of the season.”

Formula 1Lewis Hamilton: Kimi Antonelli “deserves to be the champion”

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