Hamilton hits out at Mercedes timing: “We need to be better” 

The seven-time world champion suffered his worst-ever qualifying in the United States after being knocked out in Q3, leaving him down in 13th on the grid for Sunday’s race. 

Hamilton was heard questioning Mercedes’ timing at the end of qualifying, having been one of the last drivers to complete their final runs in the second session.

“You left it way too late guys,” Hamilton bemoaned over team radio. 

The 38-year-old Briton explained his frustrations when he spoke to Sky after qualifying. 

“When you’re fast you can sit back and be more relaxed, you can go at the last minute and take your time,” Hamilton said. “You know you’re likely to make it easily into Q3.

“We knew it was very hard and there was a 50:50 chance we could get into Q3 so I think we need to be better with our timing. 

“It’s done, I’ll try and get my head down tomorrow and see what I can do – 13th to God knows where.”

Mercedes struggled throughout qualifying, with both drivers only making it through Q1 with their final laps, before teammate George Russell snuck into Q3 and eventually took sixth. 

Hamilton, who was left to rue a mistake at Turn 1 on his final run of Q2, also clipped the wall to avoid Kevin Magnussen’s Haas during the first part of qualifying. 

“It was a difficult session,” Hamilton said. “We’re not that quick so we really needed perfect laps but it was difficult to get into a rhythm. At the start I had that issue with the car going slow in the last corner.

“There were a couple of decent moments in there where I thought the car was good – the Q1 end of the run time was not too bad. 

“We were at the back end of the top 10 of course and the last run I was at the last of the pack and trying to get the temperatures into the tyres. 

“But I was at the back of the queue and everyone slowed into the last corner, so I lost all temperatures and couldn’t do the lap.”