Hamilton singles out his ‘biggest issue’ in United States GP with Leclerc ‘optimistic’ after podium

Lewis Hamilton has highlighted the “biggest issue” he had in the United States Grand Prix as he came home in fourth, while team mate Charles Leclerc claimed a second podium result in a row.

Much had been made of Ferrari’s promise this weekend in Austin, with the Scuderia bringing upgrades to the Circuit of The Americas, and the anticipation continued to build as both Leclerc and Hamilton topped Friday and Saturday’s practice sessions respectively.

However, come Qualifying their rivals had raised their game with the pair starting Sunday’s race in fourth and fifth behind the two Red Bulls, while Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli sealed an impressive pole position.

As the lights went out to kick off the Grand Prix, Antonelli’s launch was enough to see him set off on his way towards a dominant victory via a one-stop strategy. Meanwhile the Ferrari pair were instantly in on the action as they usurped Isack Hadjar before both challenged Max Verstappen, Leclerc eventually finding his way past before the Dutchman retook second place.

As the race went on – with both Ferrari and Red Bull committed to two-stop strategies – Leclerc eventually fought back and passed Verstappen for second on the road late on, while Hamilton missed out on the podium with fourth. However, the seven-time World Champion cited balance issues as he fought to try and get the best out of his car.

“Yeah, I mean, I didn't have a new tyre to start on, so it put me a bit on the back foot compared to the cars ahead of me,” he said after the race. “So, I had a little bit more deg in that first stint than they did.

“A new tyre to a used tyre is about two seconds of race pace so I lost that in the first stint. But just balance was my biggest issue – balance was off. But I think the team did a great job in the stops and the strategy.”

Despite the issues he faced in the Grand Prix, Hamilton acknowledged that he was encouraged for the next races to come, though he did concede he had work to do in order to nail the car’s set-up earlier.

“I think Charles obviously did a great job this weekend for us to get… it's good for points to be ahead of McLaren so we can keep second in the Constructors’ Championship,” he continued.

“I've really got to try to extract more from this car in the next couple of races. I do believe I could be quicker if we could just get the set-up right.

"It wasn't far off, well it was at the beginning of the stint, and I just need to look into how we get to that conclusion and how I end up in that situation because it's happened a few times, like in Silverstone for example.

“I just couldn’t keep up with Charles because he had much more front wing than I did and then I couldn't turn the car. It was the same today.”

Leclerc, meanwhile, was pleased with his personal performance on his way to second place – and believed that Ferrari would have had the same result regardless of whether they had tried a one-stop strategy like Mercedes.

“I mean it was a good race and I enjoyed the race,” he said. “I enjoyed the first lap with Max. I enjoyed later on, as well, with Lando [Norris] and Max again and that was nice. The pace was quite strong as well.

“Mercedes, though, saw something that maybe Red Bull and I didn't really consider seriously, which was the one-stop and they made it work very nicely. So, this is something we'll have to analyse but the whole race has been very good. And anyway, I think if we were on a one-stop, it wouldn't have changed much the results.”

In a similar vein to his team mate, the Monegasque was also hopeful that – with the upgrades added in Austin – Ferrari could be optimistic for the future and capitalise on the momentum they have built for themselves.

“I think so, but only time will tell,” he answered when asked if he felt they could continue this kind of run. “I think in the last three, four races we had upgrades on the car in a direction that I quite like, that we are pushing in, and it makes me feel a bit more confident with the car and so I'm optimistic for the future.

“Then it's also true that we are at the end of the season. We are not expecting to bring anything, any big upgrades. But now it's all about optimising what we have, and we are not in a bad place, so I'm looking forward to see how it will be like on different tracks in the next two weeks.”