Lewis Hamilton cut a deflated figure under the floodlights of the Las Vegas Strip, the seven-time world champion resigning himself to a last-place start for Saturday’s event after a qualifying session that exposed both the limits of his car and the bleakness of his season.
What had begun as a day of genuine promise – Hamilton felt like “one of the fastest on the track” in final practice – collapsed into a result that he described with characteristic candour: “Obviously, it feels horrible. It doesn't feel good. But all I can do is I've just got to let it go by.”
Even for a driver accustomed to shouldering the weight of expectation, this one stung.
Hamilton’s misery unfolded in conditions that punished hesitation and rewarded none of his usual finesse. Rain, spray and awful visibility turned qualifying into a lottery, one the Mercedes driver seemed briefly poised to win after his confidence-boosting P3 performance earlier in the day.
That only deepened the frustration he felt when everything unravelled in Q1.
“I'm going to try and come back tomorrow,” he said, searching for a small foothold of optimism.
“I've done everything I could possibly do in terms of preparation, in terms of getting all the practice sessions. Today was feeling amazing in P3.
“I just didn't get a lap at the end, but I felt like we were quickest. And then you come out of qualifying 20th. This year is definitely the hardest year.”
What followed was a swirl of confusion – had he made it to the line in time to start one final attempt? Had there been a miscommunication? Hamilton offered his own blunt account of the ending.
“I had a yellow flag in the last corner, and then going into Turn 17 there was a yellow flag, and then I had to lift, came across the line and it was red. But I didn't have the grip anyway, so I don't think it would have made much difference.”
Speaking later to Sky Sports F1, he dismissed any hint of team error.
“Well, I mean, as I came across the line it was red, so there was no miscommunication to myself.”
In the end, the story was simple: too little grip, too little time, too much stacked against him.
Hamilton must now brace for a long, unforgiving Saturday night, starting from the very back of a grid that has offered him no mercy all season.
A champion accustomed to fighting at the front now faces a lonely climb from last place, carrying not anger but resignation. In his own words, all he can do is “let it go by”.
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