While the Circuit of the Americas has seen some of the best moments of Lewis Hamilton’s career, the 2024 US GP has turned into a horrible weekend so far for him. The Mercedes driver has bowed out in Q1 itself during the qualifying session for Sunday’s Grand Prix at Austin.
Hamilton ended up only 19th during Q1, only ahead of Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu. Since Liam Lawson has got a 60-place grid penalty, it puts him at the back of the grid for Sunday’s race, and the seven-time world champion will start from P18.
Per Autosport, this is the first time Hamilton has qualified on the back row for any Grand Prix since 2017. The Briton was struggling to extract pace from his W15 as the conditions got hotter at COTA for Saturday afternoon’s qualifying.
This is the first time Lewis Hamilton has qualified on the back row of a Grand Prix since 2017 pic.twitter.com/3DMUEhbu0s
— Autosport (@autosport) October 19, 2024
He made a mistake at turn 12 during his final run and that led to a deletion of his lap time. Regardless, his lap wasn’t quick enough to put him through to Q2. Hamilton came on the radio with a subdued message after his Q1 exit and said, “Ah, alright guys…. What has happened to this car…?“
The seven-time world champion was counting on the Mercedes upgrades to put them in good stead at the US GP weekend. However, the Silver Arrows did not find their form in Austin on Friday as Hamilton qualified in seventh.
Hamilton’s US GP weekend worsening with each session
During the sprint race, the Mercedes cars struggled to move ahead and finished fifth and sixth respectively. George Russell dropped from second to fifth despite having fought for the sprint pole on Friday. So, there was an iffy feeling about the W15’s pace in Austin. The team reportedly made changes to Hamilton’s car after the sprint race.
However, those changes seem to have backfired with Hamilton’s Q1 exit. The Briton elaborated on these changes and what happened during the sprint race which could have handicapped his performance in Grand Prix qualifying.
Hamilton 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.”
The #44 driver has struggled with qualifying a lot this season. However, in Austin, it seems to be the car’s issues having a domino effect, which in turn is worsening his US GP weekend. Moreover, Russell — who was leading Mercedes’ charge in Q3 — also crashed out in the dying seconds of the final qualifying session to only end up P6 on the grid for Sunday’s race.
