Lewis Hamilton: « We would have needed a few more laps »
Like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton was not put in the best conditions in Austin. A piloting error and a non-optimal strategy surely deprived him of his 104th victory in Formula 1.
Winner of the inaugural United States Grand Prix in Austin in 2012, the Circuit of the Americas has over the years become one of the British driver’s strongholds, with 5 victories in total. Thus motivated to deliver another great performance on Texas soil, the latter did not make his start easy. Starting 4th on the track, Carlos Sainz made a good start from his pole position to unravel the Mercedes at turn 1. Lewis Hamilton was able to take advantage of the activation of the DRS to overtake the Ferrari as early as the 4th lap. Two laps later, he overtook the Spaniard’s teammate to climb to the second position.
The Briton was not the only one moving up the chessboard. On the 12th lap, Max Verstappen bravely dived inside Charles Leclerc to climb up to third place. The Mercedes driver responded to this looming threat with the best lap on the track. Faced with a discreet Dutchman at the beginning of the race, Hamilton built a solid 5-second lead. These early race efforts were ruined by three factors: a very long wheel lock at turn 11 on the 20th loop, a 3.6-second pit stop, and staying on the track too long with his worn medium tires. When he came out of the pit lane, the driver of car number 44 was more than 7 seconds behind the Red Bull. A delay that was very visually materialized by the physiognomy of the first turn.
These setbacks were preceded by an inability to catch up with Lando Norris for many laps. Appearing increasingly large in the McLaren’s rearview mirrors, Lewis Hamilton positioned himself alongside to launch an attack on the 49th lap. Norris, not wishing to be overtaken without putting up some resistance, gave the fans a good duel, albeit a heated one, against his fellow countryman in the complex of the last sector.
Having stopped later than the Dutchman and benefiting from softer gums, Hamilton raised his game level to threaten his great rival from 2021 but, despite the presence of stragglers and the brake problems of the RB19, the 104th victory of the second veteran of F1 was not for today.
« We would have needed a few more laps to win today but I want to thank my team who worked hard to bring these improvements. Honestly, it was complicated after the last race in Qatar and my mistake. I really felt like I let the team down. I really had to question myself to come back. It’s one of those experiences where you fall but you have to get up. »
This second place remains important for Lewis Hamilton who is currently chasing not the world champion title as he has accustomed us between 2014 and 2021 but that of vice-champion. Perez, who finished in an anonymous 5th position, is now 19 points behind the Mercedes driver. Now equipped with a new floor that the Briton considers a giant step in the right direction, it is hard to imagine that the Mexican, who is going through a dry spell, can contain him until Abu Dhabi.
