The recently concluded United States America Grand Prix was no less than a dramatic thriller. It had its moments of upsets and inspiring comebacks. Moreover, the man with the most gains was none other than Mercedes’ superstar Lewis Hamilton. He secured P3 during qualifying and fed on the momentum during the main race on Sunday.
To those unversed, Mercedes brought in a new upgrade to the floor for the Austin weekend. While the upgrade was initially meant for learning purposes, it ended up gaining a few tenths of a second to Lewis Hamilton, who ensured to put it to good use. However, a miscue from the team’s end led to an utter disaster as Hamilton lost his hard-earned P2 finish.
Toto Wolff Acknowledges Mistake After FIA Disqualified Lewis Hamilton From USA GP!
Lewis Hamilton nearly had his first win after Jeddah 2021 at the recently concluded USA Grand Prix. He finished P2 with a gap of less than two seconds to Max Verstappen, who, in fact, had been struggling with braking issues. However, Lewis was denied the points as his W14 was found to be in violation of FIA regulations. During random inspection, FIA ruled that the plank underneath the W14 of Hamilton was worn too thin, which was beyond the limits set by the sport’s governing body. Thus, the British driver was punished with a disqualification along with Charles Leclerc. Furthermore, Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, accepted the mistake with the setup and confirmed that the team won’t be challenging the ruling.
Wolff added that getting the setups right during sprint races is always a challenge. He further rejected the speculations of any foul play as he felt his team got it wrong. But at the end of the day, it’s all about accepting the mistake, taking it up on the chin, and moving forward with the positives. Even Lewis Hamilton said that the disqualification cannot take away the positive and gain they have had this weekend. The floor upgrade seemed to have worked brilliantly and the Briton firmly believed that he had the race pace to beat Max Verstappen had they executed a better strategy. Overall, the Silver Arrows and Lewis Hamilton concluded the Grand Prix on a happy note as they now have the confidence to secure a win this season. They still have four rounds to go to accomplish the far-fetched dream.
Mercedes’ Pit Stop Strategy Ruined Lewis Hamilton’s Winning Odds!
Keeping the disqualification aside, Lewis Hamilton stood a real chance at a win at the USA Grand Prix. Max Verstappen faced a braking issue, which he had to manage throughout the race. Thus, Mercedes had the opportunity to put pressure on the Dutchman, considering the pace they had for the weekend. However, it took just one pit-stop strategy mishap to ruin Hamilton’s entire race.
Lewis Hamilton’s pit stop was delayed by a couple of laps despite the Briton making it clear that he won’t be able to manage the mediums for the next five laps or so. Meanwhile, Mercedes took their own sweet time to revise the strategy, which allowed Verstappen to stay inside their pit window. Thus, when Hamilton finally made his stop, he came out six seconds behind the reigning world champion. Nevertheless, the whole race went to dust after the FIA ruling.
