Lewis Hamilton’s United States Grand Prix ambitions were hit with a roadblock after the Mercedes driver qualified in P19 on Saturday qualifying. The seven-time world champion failed to make it to Q2 and will start his race from the last grid on Sunday.
Fans were shocked as they witnessed Hamilton go out in the first session and shared their reactions on social media.
Hamilton had a decent Sprint qualifying and Sprint race at the Circuit of the Americas. However, the Grand Prix qualifying ruined his weekend.
The Briton was only ahead of the Sauber of Zhou Guanyu and behind his former teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Following the Sprint earlier on Saturday, Mercedes reportedly made some changes to Hamilton’s W-15. It seemed that the changes did not work for good as the British driver looked terrible at the pace.
He clocked 1:34.154 and was almost half a tenth slower than the driver in P15.
Hamilton failed to set the time required for the next session, as he lost enormous time in the middle sector of his final flying lap. Turn 1, turn 11, turn 12, and turn 19 were the turns where Lewis Hamilton lost most of his time. As a result, he qualified for the back of the grid for the first time since 2017.
As the British driver failed to make use of the sessions, fans began to wonder how he would compare against Charles Leclerc at Ferrari next season. Here are some reactions taken from X:
A fan wrote following the qualifying session, “At this rate, just imagine what Charles Leclerc would do to Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.”
“Wasn’t even P16. He qualified P19 on pure pace, only ahead of Zhou in an unupgraded Sauber. Definition of washed,” another fan wrote about Hamilton’s Q1 performance.
Another fan, who shifted his support, wrote, “Tomorrow am rooting for lando and oscar. This guy has bottled it.”
Another fan wrote, asking Hamilton to retire, “Get this guy into retirement.”
“Bro doesn’t give a shit anymore lol,” another fan wrote on Hamilton’s performance.
Another fan wrote about the same issue, “The decline is immense. Next year will be a nightmare.”
Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, however, made it to Q3, and qualified in P6, behind Oscar Piastri and ahead of Pierre Gasly.
Lewis Hamilton explained his COTA nightmare
Following the conclusion of Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying session, he spoke to the media, where he unraveled the reason behind his underperformance. Here’s what he said:
“We had a front suspension failure on the Formation Lap before the Sprint, which I had to drive with in the Sprint. I think I’ll be starting from the pit lane tomorrow as the car is a nightmare.”
Lando Norris claimed the pole position, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz wrapped up P2, and P3 in the qualifying. Lewis Hamilton currently stands in P6 with 174 points, ahead of his teammate Russell, who is in P7 with 155 points.
