Lewis Hamilton labels Mercedes car “a nightmare” after shock Q1 exit

Lewis Hamilton has labelled his Mercedes F1 car “a nightmare” after suffering a shock Q1 elimination at the United States Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion had a terrible day at a track he usually excels at and could only set a time good enough for 19th, marking his worst-ever qualifying performance at COTA.

Hamilton locked up under braking and went deep at Turn 12, a mistake which cost him half a second, and led to his worst qualifying result of the 2024 campaign.

After the session, Hamilton revealed he had “some sort of failure” in Saturday afternoon’s sprint race which forced Mercedes to change the set-up of his W15.

“In the sprint, we had some sort of failure from the formation lap on the front suspension and had that throughout the sprint race,” he explained.

“That made the balance really difficult. We did change a couple of things. It pushed us in the direction of what we would have done yesterday. The car was a nightmare in qualifying.”

Hamilton is due to start 18th with RB’s Liam Lawson set to serve a back of the grid penalty for taking on a complete new power unit.

However, Hamilton indicated he is keen to start from the pit lane so further set-up changes can be made to his car.

“I should probably start from the pit lane, otherwise I won't be going anywhere,” Hamilton added.

When asked what he was struggling with, Hamilton replied: “It’s just a very inconsistent balance and no grip.”

It is the first time in 12 attempts that Hamilton has failed to qualify inside the top five at Austin in regular grand prix qualifying. He has three pole positions at the circuit.

Hamilton qualified only seventh for the Austin sprint and finished the race sixth.