“Lewis Hamilton was really happy with the car” - Mercedes chief ‘disappointed’ with the qualifying result despite 7x Champion’s P3 finish

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin Mentioned that while Lewis Hamilton was happy with the car after he finished P3 in the qualifying session at the US GP on Friday, the team was disappointed with the result.

The seven-time world champion was on pace for the pole position throughout the entire qualifying but lost out to Charles Leclerc by two-tenths of a second and finished P3. The result came on the back of the team introducing a new floor this weekend as a part of their last big upgrade package for the season.

While dissecting the session in his post-race interview with F1TV, Shovlin said:

"We're pleased that we were able to get it working because when you bring a new package into a sprint race you've got one shot at landing everything in the right place. So Lewis was really happy with the car and he was enjoying it."

"I think we're a bit disappointed we couldn't get further up, to be honest. At points, we thought we were really in the fight there for pole but George had a good recovery as well because he's found it really tough, just getting to grip with the circuit when you've only got one session."

Lewis Hamilton gives his take on the upgrades on the W14

The Brit stated that it was the first time in two years that he felt an upgrade on the car since the beginning of the new regulations last year.

Speaking in his post-qualifying press conference, the Mercedes driver pointed out that the new floor might not be indicative of the next season but he was happy with the performance gain.

Lewis Hamilton said:

"As we continue to experiment, we get more and more knowledge of where we are going and where we are routing the flow of the car. The floor is not a huge amount different, so it's… There's always hype with someone's upgrade but the rest of the car is exactly the same and there are lots of areas in which we can improve."

He continued:

"But this is an improvement. This is one of the first upgrades that I've actually felt over the last two years. So that's, that's a positive and we just need two or three times this step to put us in, you know, super competitive mode, which I believe the guys can do.

It will be fascinating to see where Lewis Hamilton finishes in the main race on Sunday and if can he get the first win of the season for Mercedes.