Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc point finger as Ferrari stars baffled at US GP
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were left scratching their heads as Ferrari's struggles continued in the United States Grand Prix sprint qualifying
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have both expressed their disappointment as Ferrari's woes continued at the United States Grand Prix being held in Austin. The duo finished in eighth and tenth places, respectively, in Friday's sprint qualifying session.
Both drivers seemed to be on the brink of missing out on the final shoot-out at the Circuit of the Americas. Seven-time world champion Hamilton, who holds the record for the most US Grand Prix wins (six) and has secured two of his world championships at this iconic circuit, barely made it into the final part of sprint qualifying.
The legendary British driver finished a mere 0.006 seconds ahead of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli in SQ2, eventually qualifying in eighth place. Despite showing initial promise in Austin, he was left lamenting a loss of speed - as he criticised the Scuderia's performance.
"That was definitely not the pace we were expecting," Hamilton confessed to F1TV. "I really don't know, as it was looking good in practice, and SQ1 was looking pretty decent, also.
"Then it just started to fall away from us. The car is very, very tough to drive, and this just fell away from us. Eight-tenths is just a mountain to climb,"
Leclerc was equally puzzled by the car's lack of speed when speaking to F1TV after sprint qualifying. "We lost time everywhere," he stated. "I don't regret what I've done in my lap much. Maybe a little bit more mileage this morning on the medium.
"You can fine-tune the car a little bit better. There might be a tenth in that, a tenth and a half, I don't know. But it's not enough. I mean, we are so behind now. I'll be very surprised if we find something that will make such a jump.
"I hope that I'm wrong, but unfortunately, for now, it just seems like it's the potential of our car. We now just need to understand if they understood something that we didn't, but today was a very poor day."
Hamilton has endured a challenging debut campaign with Ferrari and he is yet to secure a podium finish with the Italian team. Apart from his victory in the Chinese sprint race back in March, it has been a season to forget for the 40-year-old.
He currently languishes sixth in the standings, trailing championship leader Oscar Piastri by an insurmountable 211 points. Leclerc has enjoyed marginally more success, meanwhile, earning second place in Monaco alongside third-place finishes in Saudi Arabia, Spain, Austria and Belgium.
He sits one position ahead of his teammate in the championship table, while holding a 48-point advantage over Hamilton (173 to 125). Both Ferrari drivers have seen their form deteriorate further following the summer break.
Hamilton and Leclerc both failed to finish the Dutch GP at the end of August.
The Monegasque driver subsequently recorded fourth, ninth and sixth-place finishes at Monza, Azerbaijan and Singapore respectively. Hamilton, meanwhile, managed a sixth-place finish during his Italian GP debut for Ferrari, followed by consecutive eighth-place finishes in Baku and Singapore.
The duo's woes are set to continue in Austin, which is shaping up to be a favourable track for Max Verstappen and the McLaren twosome of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
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