Lewis Hamilton had ‘zero pace’ in ‘confusing’ sprint for Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton says he had “zero pace” in a “confusing” sprint race for Mercedes at the F1 United States Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion finished sixth, one place behind Mercedes teammate George Russell, who slipped back from second after he encountered struggles with front tyre wear.

Hamilton, in contrast, reported issues with rear tyre wear on his W15.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise. We’ve had that problem many a time,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.

“The car was feeling good yesterday and we were both on for the front and second rows, with George was so close to pole.

"So definitely a confusing result in terms of he had one problem, I had another problem. I had zero pace.

"[Russell] was at least able to hold on to them for a while so we will look into it. There are changes we can make [for main qualifying] but it’s a lot hotter than it was yesterday, so that’s obviously part of the reason.”

After losing out to Lando Norris at the start, Russell came back at the McLaren driver in the early exchanges before his pace dramatically dropped off and he was passed by both Ferraris. 

“I was quick in the beginning and then I had no tyres left, but the Ferraris were right behind me and they weren’t exactly relaxing,” he explained to Sky Sports.

“I felt that if I backed off a little bit they were going to be on my tail. I spoke with Lewis after the race and he had no rear tyres left, so we’re clearly missing something.”

Russell added: “It’s just getting on top of these tyres. It’s a little bit hotter today. It’s the first time we’ve ran the medium tyres. In practice we ran the hard tyres and we had really great race pace and you could push really hard on it.

“Clearly on the medium it was different. It was a bit of a shame to end up P5. It was almost a practice session ahead of the main event tomorrow, so we have got another opportunity.”