Lewis Hamilton started the Las Vegas Grand Prix 10th on the grid after a poor qualifying but suffered even more misfortune during the race, despite making up a few positions
Lewis Hamilton had a ball despite enduring a testing Las Vegas Grand Prix.
He started 10th which already presented a significant challenge. But things became worse at the first corner when he was forced to avoid chaotic scenes around him as several cars made contact and a couple span around.
“Very difficult race,” he remarked. “It was challenging at first to start on the hard tire, and I was obviously struck by someone behind—I believe Carlos [Sainz].” I then lost five or six spots while attempting to avoid colliding with the cars that had spun around.”
He started his recuperation right away and moved up the leaderboard right away. However, Hamilton faced an additional difficulty when he punctured himself while interacting with Oscar Piastri.
“After that, I was making my way back and doing great, the tyres were feeling good and the pace was strong,” stated the seven-time world champion. I entered Piastri from the inside. It’s not really clear to me what happened, but I was struck in the back. I felt like there was a thud, but I believe it was a racing incident.
“I was speeding because I didn’t have a puncture right away, but as soon as I approached the pit lane entrance, I sensed that the back end was moving, and I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s too late to get in.'” Consequently, I had to complete an extremely slow lap and must have lost about 40 seconds.
“Thank you for allowing me to return, and I apologize to the team for yesterday’s subpar qualifying. Although our car has its strengths, it can occasionally be very difficult to extract its full potential in terms of performance.”
Due to a time penalty for teammate George Russell, Hamilton was ultimately classified seventh on the road, having finished eighth overall. Nevertheless, Hamilton felt that a widely criticized race weekend in Las Vegas had gone well overall and left having had a great time.
“I’m really grateful that the race was so good, and I’m really happy to have had a positive race,” he said in closing. I’m not sure how entertaining it was to watch, but there was a lot of overtaking. It was superior to Baku.
“I honestly didn’t think the track would be this amazing, but as I completed more and more laps, I found that I truly enjoyed racing. Many excellent opportunities to overtake. I believe Vegas disproved everyone who was so pessimistic about the weekend, saying things like “it’s all about the show,” etc.”
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