AUSTIN — Lewis Hamilton qualified down in 19th for Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix, complaining his car was “pretty terrible” to drive after Mercedes was forced into car changes.
Hamilton was sixth in the sprint race on Saturday before getting knocked out of the first qualifying session for Sunday’s race.
The seven-time world champion said his car never felt right after an issue he encountered at the start of the sprint.
“It’s been pretty terrible,” Hamilton said. “The car felt great yesterday, so obviously came really optimistic for today. Something failed on the front suspension literally as we pulled away from the line for the formation lap, and I had that through the race.
“So they figured that out, they changed the corner. And it felt like a mess, obviously, through qualifying.”
Hamilton said he will channel the spirit of his younger self to try and make something happen.
“There’s not going to be a lot going on. I started in karts with a pretty bad go-kart and used to come through the field, so I’ll see if I can do that tomorrow.”
He added: “Yesterday all of a sudden we were looking really quick. I don’t know where that went. But we’ll keep pushing.”
After qualifying, Hamilton said he wanted to start from the pit lane so the team can alter his setup before the race start.
U.S. GP: Liam Lawson puzzled by Fernando Alonso’s anger after sprint
AUSTIN — Liam Lawson was surprised how upset Fernando Alonso got with him after Saturday’s U.S. Grand Prix sprint, adding “hopefully he’ll get over it.”
Alonso was upset after passing Lawson down the long back straight at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas. At the left-hander which followed, Lawson did a switch-back and managed to get back in front, squeezing the Aston Martin driver in the process.
“Man, the AlphaTauri is such an idiot,” Alonso said on the radio afterwards, referencing the RB team’s previous name.
Alonso was then pictured having an animated conversation with Lawson as the pair walked away from their cars following the sprint.
Alonso then told DAZN: “Too much action, maybe, from Lawson, who has six races to prove things. I don’t think it’s the best way, but it’s his career at stake and not mine.”
A few hours later at the start of Q1, Alonso weaved right and left behind Lawson as they both came out of the pit-lane, before overtaking on the hill up towards Turn 1.
Lawson was unsure what Alonso had been trying to do.
“I don’t know, he said he would screw me and I guess he kept his word. I dunno,” Lawson said when asked what happened with Alonso.
“He was really upset, I’m not sure why, we were racing for P16 and I don’t know why he was so upset. Yeah, I don’t know. It is what it is. Hopefully he can get over it and we’ll move forward.”
Lawson added: “I understand he had a pretty horrible race so I can understand why he’s upset. But if I did anything wrong I’d have got a penalty.”
Alonso said Lawson’s original move to defend reminded him of the collision he had with now-teammate Lance Stroll in 2022 at the same section of the race track.
“I think on the straight we nearly crashed like I did with Lance two years ago, at 300 something [kph], and then the way he squeezed out of the corners to the track limits itself, in lap one out of 11, I don’t want to make a big thing.
“You know, of course no penalty when someone lifts off in 16, 17, that was probably the biggest surprise.”
Asked if he had been trying to “screw” Lawson by overtaking out of the pit-lane, Alonso said: “No, not really, but you know, everyone on track is behaving as he wants, and for me today it was unnecessary, everyone can have different opinions, I’m OK with that, and it’s 24 races, so you meet somewhere in the journey.”
Alonso then shut down questions on the Lawson incident, telling journalists it was not very important.
Daniel Ricciardo exit could have been handled better – RB boss
AUSTIN, TEXAS — RB boss Laurent Mekies has said that the team could have handled Daniel Ricciardo’s exit from Formula 1 better.
Ricciardo will be absent from the grid at the U.S. Grand Prix this weekend after his F1 career finished with emotional TV interviews at the Singapore Grand Prix three weeks ago.
His imminent departure had not been confirmed by the team but was heavily speculated and Liam Lawson was confirmed as his replacement the following week.