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Lewis Hamilton claimed that he was expecting much better after a disappointing United States GP sprint qualifying saw him finish in P8 on Friday. His teammate Charles Leclerc finished 10th, making it a disastrous outing for Ferrari at COTA.
Ferrari, and especially Lewis Hamilton, looked to be one of the quicker packages during the US GP FP1 on Friday, but their fortunes were completely turned around during sprint qualifying.
After making it through to SP3 by the skin of their teeth, neither Hamilton nor Leclerc was able to showcase any real pace in the final shootout, finishing P8 and P10 respectively.
Reflecting on his performance during the sprint qualifying on Friday, Hamilton said that he was definitely expecting a better result, and he has no idea where Ferrari's pace went during sprint qualifying.
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"That was definitely not the pace we were expecting," said Hamilton [via Sky Sports]
When asked if he had any idea where the team's pace went, he replied:
"I really don't. It was looking good in practice and Q1 was looking pretty decent also, and then it just started to fall away from us. The car is very, very tough to drive so yeah, it just fell away from us. I mean, eight tenths is just, that’s a mountain to climb."
Lewis Hamilton will now start on the fourth row of the grid on Saturday alongside Williams' Carlos Sainz, who secured seventh in sprint qualifying. While Leclerc will start directly behind his teammate and alongside Alex Albon.
Max Verstappen took pole position for the sprint race with a 1:32.143 best lap time, finishing ahead of both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, giving him somewhat of an edge over the two in his late-season championship bid.
Lewis Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc shares damning verdict after US GP sprint qualifying
Lewis Hamilton's teammate, Charles Leclerc, shared that Ferrari is now very far behind their competitors after the US GP sprint qualifying on Friday. The Monegasque, however, claimed that he got the maximum out of his car after having finished 10th in the session.
Speaking after the session on Friday, Leclerc told the media:
"Well, honestly, my lap was clean in SQ3. I don't regret much what I've done in my lap." [via Sky Sports]
"Maybe a little bit more mileage this morning on the medium, you can fine tune the car a little bit better. There may be a tenth (of a second) in that, a tenth and a half, I don't know. But, it's not enough, we are so far behind now," he added.
Ferrari was hoping to compete with the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes coming into the US GP, but will now find themselves racing the Williams during the sprint race on Saturday. Their weekend was off to a great start as well, but much like numerous occasions previously this season, it tailed off during the competitive session.
