In Las Vegas, Lewis Hamilton did not reach the qualifying final for the third time this season and for the first time since the Zandvoort stage, with which he recorded the eleventh fastest time. The seven-time world champion explained this result by the lack of grip on the asphalt and the fact that he could never bring the tires within the operating range.
The session went better for his Mercedes teammate George Russell: the British driver set the fourth fastest time, but since Carlos Sainz loses ten places, George starts third.
George Russel (4th): “I’m very happy with today’s qualifying. We’ve been around the top four all weekend, but today Ferrari is one step ahead of the rest. I think fourth place is my maximum. Moreover, I have not lost much to Max Verstappen. Taking Sainz’s penalty into account, I will finish a good third on the grid.
The race will be difficult. I am sure that all teams will experience a lot of rubber granulation in cooler weather conditions. No one really knows how things will turn out. We may see a lot of pit stops and those who can handle the tires better will have an advantage.
We had some problems during a long series of laps, and I think the Ferraris will be faster than us, not only on one lap, but also over the entire race distance. I will do my best to compete with Charles Leclerc and hope the race will bring surprises.”
Lewis Hamilton (11th): “Not the best qualification, but what it is. I had serious grip problems and couldn’t get the tires to work for the entire session. The result isn’t ideal, but it was the result of a problem that had been haunting me for a while.
We saw a significant improvement in track conditions at the end of the session. This improvement isn’t exactly incredible, but it was enough to keep me from progressing as I couldn’t improve my time on the last attempt.
In practice we saw a lot of granulation in the tires across all teams, so it will be interesting to see if this continues in the race. I think working with the tires and understanding when to attack and when to save the tires will be the most important factor on Sunday.
We made some small adjustments for the third practice session and I hope this will help us in the race.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
