Explained: Was Lewis Hamilton hindered by "LiCo" during the F1 US GP?

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth at the United States Grand Prix, but the question that remained was more on the table left for him, as Ferrari seemingly had decent race pace. But one key characteristic of the 2025 Ferrari challenger had come back to bite the Briton at the Sprint race weekend, as LiCo made a return in the radio transmission during the Grand Prix.

Hamilton won the Sprint race in China and showcased that the SF-25 had pace whenever the car was able to run lower to the track. However, this smile was wiped off the face of the Italian giant as a day later, the scarlet duo were disqualified from the Chinese GP, and the Briton's disqualification was down to excessive plank wear.

Since then, the SF-25 has been notoriously known for eating out its skid blocks and running dangerously close to wearing out the plank. LiCo, or lift and coast, was devised as an interim solution to this problem, as F1 cars usually grind away most of their skid blocks and plank at the end of the straights, when the car is lowest to the ground.

So LiCo helps the car by seemingly not hitting the Vmax every straight and reducing the wear on the plank. Moreover, such radio calls made a return in COTA, which was a Sprint race weekend.

Despite there being an early VSC, Hamilton was instructed to perform 50 meters of LiCo into turns 1 and 2. This indicated a troublesome race lying ahead.

Hamilton was in contention for possibly getting his maiden podium with the Scuderia, but he was not allowed to unleash his full pace from this point onwards. The seven-time champion was reminded about performing LiCo every few laps, which curtailed his pace in comparison to Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

Moreover, with him getting out of the pits over 10 seconds behind his rivals. But this was not even the tip of the iceberg, as crossing the 50-lap mark, when the fuel loads are lighter and the impact on the plank is reduced, ironically, the instruction for LiCo was increased, and he was told to increase it by another 50 meters and to coast into turn 12.

Such radio calls showcased that Ferrari held back Lewis Hamilton from going all out and hindered his eventual race result, despite him claiming another season-best fourth-place finish.

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Lewis Hamilton reflects on Ferrari's result at the United States Grand Prix

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton at the 2025 F1 United States Grand Prix race weekend - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton started fifth for the United States GP. After making an overtake on George Russell, he was able to set his sights on retaining P4, which came ever so close to slipping away from his hands due to an issue with the front end of his car in the final lap.

So, reflecting on a chaotic and calm race, he said in a post-race interview with Sky Sports:

"Good result, amazing result for the team. Third and fourth, good points. I went forwards even after a bad start, so lots and lots of positives to take from it. I think there's, yeah, naturally I want to be further up, so just got to keep working at it. Considering we've not been upgrading the car for us to be kind of in the fight, it shows that the team's done a really, really great job this weekend. I hope everyone back at the factory is happy. And yeah, we're definitely on the right path. I'm so close, still not with that podium, but I'll keep trying."

Lewis Hamilton's P4 finish has added another 12 points to his 2025 tally, bumping it up to 142 points.