Hamilton laments 'very difficult qualifying' but still starts P3

Mercedes managed to lock-out the second row of the grid for tomorrow's United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, but he wasn't particularly happy with his qualifying session.

A previous winner in Austin, Hamilton admitted that he had come into today with high hopes only to find things a lot tougher than he had been expecting.

"That was a very difficult qualifying session," he said after the end of the session.

"I felt so optimistic all weekend: the car had been feeling good and everyone back at the factory worked so hard to bring the upgrade, so I was hopeful that we were going to be much closer than we are.

• Read also: Sainz beats Verstappen to pole position in Austin

"Once we got to qualifying, I don't know if it's because temperatures dropped, or the wind picked up, but the car was such a handful suddenly and that made it hard to put the laps together, especially in the final sector."

Neither Hamilton nor his team mate George Russell has too much difficulty making it ot the final top ten pole shoot-out round, but a poor final run in Q3 left him in fifth place on the timesheets and Russell just behind.

But grid penalties for new engines components for Charles Leclerc and Sergio perez mean they will be starting from third and fourth on the grid for Sunday's race, raising Hamilton's hopes for what they can do.

"I think we may be able to keep up with the cars in front, especially through the corners," he said. "But they have simply got more baseline pace than us.

"We are still pushing hard, so it's frustrating not to be closing down that gap to pole, but we will be giving it everything we've got tomorrow."

Hamilton is yet to win a race this season, and is hoping to do so in the four races remaining if he is to maintain a perfect record going back to his debut campaign in 2007.

Russell is also hoping to be back in form. The Briton had a remarkable run of consistency in his first season with the team and was in the top five in ever race he finished until struggling in wet races in Singapore and Suzuka.

But Austin hadn't started well for him, as Russell was first to admit.

"It has been a difficult weekend for me, and I was off the pace in all the other sessions, so I'm pleased to be in a more normal position for qualifying," he explained.

"Six tenths to pole is a smaller gap than usual for us on Saturday, and we did bring some updates here which are working, so I'm excited to see what happens tomorrow.

"It will be a race of high tyre degradation and a lot of different strategic options in play, and I think the race will be won and lost in the choices we make.

"We will need to be dynamic in how we react. Ferrari looked strong yesterday and I think we looked reasonable to them and Red Bull on the long runs, so I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do from the second row."

Russell is currently locked in a battle with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz for fourth place in the drivers championship. Russell is just five points ahead of his Ferrari rival, who starts tomorrow's race from pole.

Hamilton will have to work hard to overcome a 20+ points deficit to the pair if he wants to join the fray from sixth in the current standings.

Mercedes as a whole look too far away from Ferrari to compete for the runners-up spot in the constructors championship with four races remaining in 2022.

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