Stunned Lewis Hamilton left with ‘mountain to climb’ as Ferrari woes continue

Lewis Hamilton cut a downbeat figure, with Sprint qualifying at the United States Grand Prix marking a continuation of the recent struggles for Ferrari.

Hamilton qualified P8 for the United States Grand Prix Sprint, two grid slots up the road from Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. As the team continues to struggle with its SF-25 challenger, Hamilton said the Ferrari machine is “very tough to drive”, and that he has been left with a “mountain to climb” as he assessed the deficit.

Lewis Hamilton: ‘Definitely not the pace we were expecting’

Ferrari arrived in Austin very much on a concerning run of form. No podium has been achieved across the last five grands prix, and the early signs in Austin do not point towards a return to the top three.

Ferrari spent large parts of Sprint qualifying on the back foot, though Hamilton and Leclerc were able to make it into the final SQ3 stage. Eighth for Hamilton and tenth for Leclerc was as good as it got.

“That was definitely not the pace we were expecting,” Hamilton bluntly admitted following the session.

Asked if he had any idea where the pace went for Ferrari, Hamilton responded: “No, I really don’t.”

By the end of SQ3, Hamilton was 0.892 seconds down on Sprint pole specialist Max Verstappen, who will launch from the P1 grid slot once more on Saturday.

Hamilton did not sugar coat what such a gap means for he and Ferrari.

“It was looking good in practice, and [S]Q1 was looking pretty decent also. And then, it just started to fall away from us,” Hamilton continued.

“The car is very, very tough to drive. Yeah, it just fell away from us.

“I mean, eight-tenths, that’s a mountain to climb.”

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Speaking in the drivers’ press conference ahead of the race weekend, Hamilton opened up on his approach to the remaining rounds of the season, as he chases the “good result” which he believes Ferrari deserves.

“I’m really looking at the next six races as, ultimately, test weekends in terms of continuing to learn and improve on our processes,” he said.

“As I said in the last races, there’s been a couple of gems through the weekend that we didn’t capitalise on. So it’s about taking those good bits and continuing to take what works and change what doesn’t. That’s what we’re trying to do moving forward, continuing to build on the relationships, continue to build on communication.

“Everyone back at the factory really deserves a good result, and that’s the sole focus, to get good results, try to maximise, squeeze absolutely every point we can out of our performances on the weekends. And I really believe we can do that. So we just stay focused.”

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