Lewis Hamilton suffered a shocking Q1 exit at the United States Grand Prix qualifying at the Circuit of The Americas on Saturday. It seemed that the Mercedes driver struggled with his car throughout the session, and when he failed to make the cut, he shared a puzzled reaction about the car on his radio.

Hamilton’s failure to make it to Q2 sent him to the back of the grid. This means that the seven-time world champion qualified at the last grid for the first time since 2017. Besides the fans, the driver himself was bewildered by this outcome.

It was reported that Mercedes made a few changes to Hamilton’s car following the Sprint earlier on Saturday. It’s unknown yet if the tweaks backfired, as the Briton only managed to beat a Sauber in terms of one-lap pace. Even his former teammate, Valtteri Bottas on his Sauber, was ahead of him.

As Peter Bonnington, aka Bono, reported his place in qualifying, Hamilton shared a bemusing reaction on the radio. He said,

“What has happened to this car, guys?”
Hamilton’s difficulty with the W-15 isn’t new, and at Austin, it returned to haunt him again. The turn 1, turn 11, turn 12, and turn 19 were the parts where Hamilton lost most of his time in his final flying lap.

The Silver Arrows star managed 1:34.154 on the clock, and this was not enough for the next session.

Lance Stroll in P15 clocked 1:34.033 and was nearly a tenth faster than the former. His teammate, George Russell, made it to Q3 interestingly. The Briton qualified in P6, behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Lando Norris returned to the pole position for Sunday’s race again, ahead of his title rival Max Verstappen and P3 was taken by Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton unraveled the qualifying mystery
Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes F1 team (44) drives on track during the United States Grand Prix qualifying – Source: Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes F1 team (44) drives on track during the United States Grand Prix qualifying – Source: Getty Images
As Lewis Hamilton faced an early exit on Saturday, fans began to wonder what might have caused him to take the early exit in Q1. Following the conclusion of the qualifying session, Hamilton addressed the media and spoke about the unfortunate ordeal.

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,” Hamilton said. “I think I’ll be starting from the pit lane tomorrow as the car is a nightmare.”
Lewis Hamilton is placed in P6 of the Driver’s Championship with 174 points, 19 points ahead of his teammate, George Russell. Mercedes, on the other hand, is in P4 of the Constructors’ Championship with 336 points.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua