US GP: Hamilton driven to second by Qatar disappointment

Lewis Hamilton was clearly fired up for this weekend's United States Grand Prix, and duly delivered second place in Austin at the culmination of one of his most competitive performances of the 2023 season.

A six-time winner at the Circuit of the Americas, Hamilton had qualified for the race in third place but lost a spot to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz when the lights went out to get the Grand Prix underway.

However it only took him three laps to restore his fortunes, and soon after that he passed pole sitter Charles Leclerc to move into second place behind McLaren's Lando Norris.

After that it became a cagey cat-and-house affair based on tyre strategies and pit stops. It looked like he might try a one-stop strategy like Leclerc but in the end opted to pit again on lap 38 for a final run on medium tyres.

Although that cost him the lead of the race at the time he gave him an advantage of extra speed in the closing laps allowing him to re-pass Leclerc and dispatch Norris, leaving only Max Verstappen between him and his first win of the year.

• Read also: Verstappen battles to tight win over Hamilton in US GP

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted that the hesitation before deciding to make a second stop had likely cost them the victory today. "Hindsight is a tough thing

"You can see if we covered Max we had the quicker car at that stage, but we didn’t know," he explained. “Dragging out to a one-stop was a valid thing at that stage, but we lost so much time over two laps. That’s what lost the race.”

In the end Hamilton was just a lap short of pulling it off, but it had been a close-run battle and one that hugely pleased Hamilton, who had been seeking redemption after his first lap exit in Qatar two weeks ago.

“Honestly it was really difficult after the last race,” Hamilton told the media in parc ferme after the end of Sunday's race.

“Firstly with everything that’s going on in the world, and then obviously the big mistake that I made [colliding with team mate George Russell in Qatar]. I really felt like I let the team down so much.

“I had to go through a real deep process of getting myself back to here," he explained. "It was again just one of those experiences of, ‘It’s not how you fall, it’s how you get back up’.

"So I came in fighting, felt great, and really happy with this result," he said. “We were catching him towards the end and I was hopeful [of catching Verstappen for victory] but we needed some more laps.

“We have to congratulate these guys,” Hamilton said of Verstappen and Red Bull. “This team has just done an incredible job all year long, just dominated, and Max has been really flawless."

Hamilton made sure to praise the hard work by the Mercedes team, both those present at the Circuit of the Americas and back at base at Brackley and Brixworth in the UK.

"The team did an amazing job this weekend, so much work to bring this upgrade here," he said after the final major upgrade - a new floor for the W14 - looked to have really delivered this weekend.

It cemented his warm feelings toward racing at COTA and in the United States as a whole.

“I've just always loved the States ever since I was eight years old when I came out here - first to Albuquerque, then Los Angeles and Las Vegas, which I can't wait for us to go racing at.

"I've just always felt really welcome here, the people have been so welcoming," he added to huge rows from the massive crowds. "It's a really progressive country and I'm super grateful for the support that we have.”

This weekend's Sprint and Grand Prix results mean that Mercedes has edged three points further ahead of Ferrari in the battle for the runners-up spot behind Red Bull in the constructors standings.

Hamilton himself has moved clear of Fernando Alonso in the drivers championship and is now just 19 points behind Sergio Perez in their battle for P2 with just four races remaining.

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