Lewis Hamilton will start 20th at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as the seven-time world champion faces a long Sunday in Sin City as he looks to recover points for Ferrari
Sky Sports F1 pundit Anthony Davidson reckons a bollard wedged beneath Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari might have triggered the Brit’s shocking Q1 exit on Saturday.
The seven-time world champion found himself languishing in 20th and dead last in qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Both Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc endured a torrid time during the opening segment of qualifying on the Las Vegas Strip, with Ferrari’s British ace propping up the timesheets when the chequered flag fell.
Hamilton’s qualifying performance looked extraordinary on paper, though the Brit faced some mitigating factors. During his warm-up lap, the British driver clattered into a bollard at Turn 14, as highlighted by Sky Sports F1 expert Davidson.
“This was with two minutes to go,” Davidson explained whilst examining Hamilton’s onboard footage. “He’s got, I think this is [Alex] Albon in front of him, but I don’t know where he was placing the car, but he seems to have just run over this cone.
“So I’ll just wind it back again… maybe he’s looking down at his dash or something – this clip has literally just come in here – I just want to see, is he looking down? He’s obviously trying to position, but randomly hits the cone, and, ah, does it get stuck under his car?
“So that could explain why there was this lack of performance, probably, towards the end for him. So he starts to build up that penultimate lap with two minutes to go, but if that cone had found its way under the car – and the car did not look good, I must say, through Turn 17.”
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When quizzed by Sky Sports F1 about the bollard incident, Hamilton, who was visibly upset after his latest qualifying debacle, couldn’t provide any clarity. “I couldn’t really see much, to be honest,” he responded.
The Stevenage-born driver was also questioned about his final lap. Commentators speculated that Hamilton had abandoned his last attempt in Q1, but the Ferrari ace believed he hadn’t crossed the line before the countdown clock hit zero. “I mean, as I came across the line, it was red, so it wasn’t a miscommunication from our side,” he explained.
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In a post-race interview, Hamilton delved deeper into his recent struggles. The F1 icon has yet to secure a podium finish in his first 21 starts for Ferrari, and his chances of doing so at Sunday’s Las Vegas race are slim.
“It feels horrible,” he admitted. “It doesn’t feel good. But all I can do, I’ve just got to let it go and try to come back tomorrow… This year is definitely the hardest year. We’ve got a really good car. It will be really hard to come back from 20th.”
