Lewis Hamilton rued an untimely yellow flag costing him what he believed could have been pole position for the Sprint race at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
Hamilton, a six-time race winner around the Circuit of the Americas, seemed in competitive shape as he posted the second-quickest time in SQ2 and was third in SQ3. But the Briton couldn’t repeat this on his only attempt in the all-important final segment, dropping to seventh behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.
Hamilton’s disappointment was compounded when George Russell proved the potential of the Mercedes W15 by finishing second, 0.012 seconds behind Max Verstappen. However, Hamilton looked set to overtake Verstappen and his team-mate until he was interrupted by the slow Franco Colapinto, who spun at Turn 12.
“Yeah, just bad luck with the yellow flag, that’s all,” Hamilton recalled. “I had a quarter.”
Hamilton lends Mercedes updates
However, Hamilton, who had not paraded on a summer holiday, was supported by the latest Mercedes update.
When she was asked if she had a caution, Hamilton answered: “Yes, but that’s right. “The good news is that the team has made a step forward with the car and the upgrade clearly worked.
“We’ve all worked so hard to get the upgrade, so I’m really grateful to everyone at the factory for all the hard work they’ve put in during this time”
To make sure it works. Yes, it’s not the end of the day. We’ll have another chance tomorrow.”
Mercedes tuning changes fuel turnaround at COTA
Hamilton praised the setup changes Mercedes made to help them bounce back from a tough practice session in which both drivers faced high-speed spins.
“We’ve done a lot of work to make changes to the car, but there’s always a bit of risk because you don’t know if it’s going to work, what changes you’re going to make.
“I hope they do what they set out to do, but as soon as I got out it was like night and day in the car.”