Hamilton's COTA charge undone by a balance he couldn't fix
Lewis Hamilton believes a podium was there for the taking at the United States Grand Prix — if only Ferrari had given him a car he could turn.
Hamilton finished fourth in Austin behind winner Kimi Antonelli, teammate Charles Leclerc in second, and Max Verstappen in third. The result leaves Hamilton just one point behind George Russell (242 to 241) in the fight for second in the championship, but the seven-time champion was more focused on what went wrong than what went right.
"I didn't have a new tyre to start on, so it put me a bit on the back foot compared to the cars ahead of me," Hamilton said. "So I had a little bit more deg in that first stint than they did. A new tyre to a used tyre is about two seconds of race pace. So I lost that in the first stint."
However, the tyres were only part of the story.
"Balance was my biggest issue. Balance was off," he said. "But I think the team did a great job in the stops and the strategy."
It was a familiar frustration. Hamilton referenced Silverstone, where the same issue left him unable to keep pace with Leclerc.
"I just couldn't keep up with Charles because he had much more front wing than I did. And then I couldn't turn the car. It was the same today."
Despite the disappointment, Hamilton found reasons for encouragement. Leclerc's second place helped Ferrari stay ahead of McLaren in the constructors' fight.
"I think Charles obviously did a great job this weekend," Hamilton said. "It's good for points to be ahead of McLaren so we can keep second in the Constructors' Championship. I've really got to try to extract more from this car in the next couple of races. I do believe I could be quicker if we could just get the setup right. It wasn't far off, but it was at the beginning of the stint. I just need to look into how we get to that conclusion and how we end up in that situation."
With five rounds remaining — Qatar and Abu Dhabi still scheduled, for now — and a one-point gap to Russell, Hamilton's championship position is strong. But his message to Ferrari is clear: fix the balance, or the podiums will keep slipping away.
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