Lewis Hamilton makes his feelings known after a disastrous qualifying session
Lewis Hamilton was left lamenting as he faltered in his Q3 laps for the F1 Las Vegas GP on Saturday, November 23. The British driver had been brilliant throughout the race weekend, topping both FP1 and FP2.
The cold conditions in Las Vegas and the low-grip surface meant the Mercedes has come alive this weekend. The car's ability to generate temperature quickly in its tires saw the team brilliantly nail everything in terms of setup for the weekend. Lewis Hamilton also started on a roll and showed his brilliance in a car he looked comfortable in.
He was fast on Friday and carried the pace into Saturday, qualifying as well. He was the fastest in both Q1 and Q2, with teammate George Russell close behind.
In Q3, however, Lewis Hamilton messed up as on his first push lap, he locked his tires and went wide, while on his second lap, he made a mistake and went off track. Talking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the driver was very disappointed and owned up to a poor qualifying.
“I just didn’t do the job," Hamilton said. "The car felt different in Q3, and the stability was not there for some reason. But I’d had it all in the other sessions but, ultimately, I didn’t put the laps together. The tyres were difficult. That’s why we did a prep lap. And that was the wrong call to do a prep lap, on my side. Then it kind of domino effected from there.”
While previewing possible issues, he also reflected on the positives and pointed out that he had the pace to compete this weekend.
“We think it’s tyres, but, I mean, we don’t know why we’re fast this weekend, it must be something to do with temperatures. [It’s rear instability.] It had been really good up until then, obviously you saw my pace, and then Q3 it just started snapping away. I feel great, to be honest. I wish I was on pole. George is on pole. It’s great for the team. It’s not a stinger. We move forwards, I got three pops at it, two more pops in the next races and see how that goes. The good thing is, I’ve got pace.”
Following an underwhelming Q3 run, Lewis Hamilton could not set a single lap and will be starting the race in P10. In contrast, his teammate George Russell had a brilliant outing as he secured the pole position for the team.
Lewis Hamilton's teammate Russell elated with pole position for F1 Las Vegas GP
Lewis Hamilton's teammate George Russell was especially elated at securing another pole position for the team and was happy to fulfill the car's potential.
"It is incredible to be back on pole," Russell said. "We have been so quick all weekend. I knew coming into that last Q3 lap, that would be the one that counts, it doesn't matter what happened before then."
The 26-year-old did, however, feel that the team needs to do some 'deep diving' to understand the reason behind Mercedes faring well on such track conditions.
"I had a bit of a moment on my first run. We had to change my front wing. There was a moment I thought we wouldn't make the flag. We have to do some deep diving to understand why we have been so quick this weekend because it was a real surprise," he added.
With the track layout like the F1 Las Vegas GP has, one cannot discount Lewis Hamilton having a strong race either. Sergio Perez came through the field to finish on the podium last season, and the Mercedes driver would be hoping to emulate something similar.