Hamilton: F1 still has 'fundamental issues' to solve

Lewis Hamilton believes there are still “fundamental issues” in Formula 1 despite enjoying a three-way battle for the lead at the United States Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen claimed his first victory since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix in a thrilling race in Austin as he held off the charging duo of Max Verstappen and Hamilton in the closing stages.

Hamilton went wheel-to-wheel with the Ferrari driver and Red Bull’s Verstappen and described the on-track fights as “awesome” on his way to a third-place finish.

“Going wheel to wheel was great. I really enjoyed the race, Kimi drove great, Max drove great and I really did enjoy the race,” Hamilton explained.

“Seeing that it was three of us and at one point me and Kimi wheel to wheel, it was awesome and I wish it went for longer in that first stint and in the next one when it happened.

“Then at the end with us three in that train I wish the race could continue because that was awesome and I was hoping we might get to them.”

But Hamilton remained critical of the difficulties faced when running in the dirty air produced by the car ahead, as he struggled to pull off an overtake on Verstappen despite being on fresher tyres.

F1 is working on solutions to improve the on-track spectacle and will introduce revised aerodynamic regulations next season in a bid to increase overtaking, and Hamilton hopes improvements can be made in the coming years.

“There are still fundamental issues in Formula 1 being that you can’t follow,” he added.

“There are such big gaps between us all so I really, really hope that whatever Ross and his team, what they are doing I hope they make some good decisions for 2021.

“So that there is not a second and a half that you need to get close to car because it is a lot less than that.

“If you can get it a lot less then we are going to have the best racing series ever.”