Lewis Hamilton suffered his worst nightmare during qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, ending up only 19th and bowing out in Q1. With the Austin track being one of his most successful tracks, Hamilton felt very frustrated. However, the 39-year-old has found motivation to bounce back from this setback via his fans.
He posted an Instagram story ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix at COTA to thank his fans for all the support and consolation via their messages. He posted a picture of his focused face with his helmet on while he was sitting in the car. He captioned the post,
“Thank you all for the support, much needed after a day like yesterday. But today is a new day. Today we fight and give it everything. We move.“
Lewis Hamilton via Instagram: “Thank you all for the support, much needed after a day like yesterday. But today is a new day. Today we fight and give it everything. We move.” pic.twitter.com/W2ofmfmuju
— deni (@fiagirly) October 20, 2024
Despite starting from the bottom five of the grid, Hamilton seems motivated to fight through the field in Austin. In qualifying, his car was all over the place and the #44 driver also made a mistake on his final flying run in Q1 at turn 12. This further demoted him to 19th, only ahead of Zhou Guanyu.
Hamilton’s W15 struggled a lot during the qualifying session after it suffered an issue with the suspension during the sprint race earlier in the day. Thus, the car’s lack of balance and pace which handicapped the seven-time world champion’s qualifying was understandable.
Courtesy of Liam Lawson’s back-of-the-grid penalty for the US GP, Hamilton will start a place higher than he qualified — in P18. Still, it will be a steep climb for the Mercedes driver to claw back into the top 10, let alone look to fight for the podium.
Hamilton’s US GP prospects
Having never started outside the top five in Austin, Hamilton will most likely have a tough race at COTA. The Briton has hinted that he may take a pitlane start for the US GP, as they may look to make significant changes to the car’s setup and have a better car for the race.
This could affect his race strategy as well. With the Austin race set to be a two-stopper due to the high tire degradation at COTA, Hamilton and Mercedes will have to rely on timely safety cars to take a leap up the order. As for the available tire sets, he can try something different with multiple new sets of soft and medium tires at his disposal.
What is the fastest strategy for today’s race? What sets of tyres does each driver have? What’s the difference between Soft, Medium and Hard at the start? You can find out here: #USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/TKHehCLWAH
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) October 20, 2024
Pirelli’s ideal strategy suggests that teams could ideally look at using two medium tires and one hard tire set in different permutations. However, a safety car or a red flag could certainly throw a curveball and jeopardize the front runners’ advantage.
Hamilton would count on the same to make progress. Still, if the British driver can make it to the top 10 and even be in the hunt for a top-five spot, that would be a respectable recovery after Saturday’s nightmare.
