Lewis Hamilton has explained the reasons why the podium narrowly eluded him in Formula 1โs United States Grand Prix.
๐ The Core Development
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 โ and perhaps surpass Leclerc for second.
๐ Background & Sector Context
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 โ the consequence of pursuing wrong avenues in free practice.
โI was lacking pace in the first two stints, basically. I just couldn't turn the car,โ Hamilton said.
๐ Industry & Real-World Impact
โUltimately, 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.
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๐ฎ Strategic Outlook & What Lies Ahead
โBut there's a subtle difference between Charlesโ 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 โ continuously under-hitting it for some reason.
โWhen 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.โ
