Hamilton in shock Q1 exit at US GP

Lewis Hamilton labelled his Mercedes Formula 1 car’s set-up as “a mess”, after his qualifying struggles continued at the United States Grand Prix after he was dramatically knocked out in Q1.

The Mercedes driver had left it late in the first qualifying segment to try to get through to Q2, but it all went wrong as he failed to produce the lap time needed.

While he was slightly up on the cutoff point in the first sector, it all went wrong under braking for Turn 12 at the end of the back straight.

He appeared to run deep and, as he struggled to get the car turned in, he suffered some snap oversteer on the exit.

His second sector time ended up being half a second adrift of what team-mate George Russell did and left him in the drop zone.

As a number of other drivers improved in the closing stages of Q1, Hamilton ended up 19th overall at the end – less than one tenth of a second ahead of Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, is returned to the garage

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Hamilton reckoned his Q1 exit stemmed from the front suspension issue that he carried during the sprint, and the subsequent set-up changes made the car “a nightmare”.

“It’s been pretty terrible. The car felt great yesterday, so I obviously came really optimistic for today,” Hamilton explained.

“[In the sprint] something failed in the front suspension, literally as we pulled away from the line for the formation lap, and I had that through the race.

“They figured that out, they changed the corner, but it felt like a mess throughout quali.”

Hamilton also told Sky Sports F1: “We should probably start from the pitlane, because otherwise I won’t be going anywhere from where I am. It’s just a very inconsistent balance and no grip.”

Hamilton’s Q1 exit was his first since the Chinese GP when he ended up 18th on the grid, and is his worst qualifying result of the 2024 campaign.

The Mercedes driver will gain at least one position on the US GP starting grid with RB’s Liam Lawson set to serve a back of the grid penalty for a complete power unit change outside of his allocation.