Lewis Hamilton described his debut year at Ferrari as “the worst season ever” after enduring another difficult Grand Prix weekend in Las Vegas.
During qualifying, Hamilton was eliminated in 20th place in wet conditions, and he started 19th after Yuki Tsunoda grabbed a new power unit and dropped to the pit lane. Despite a strong first lap and ultimately crossing the line in tenth place – promoted to eighth due to McLaren’s post-race disqualifications – Hamilton was extremely downbeat about how the weekend had gone.
“Terrible,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “It’s been the worst season ever. No matter how hard I try, it’s getting worse.” [I’m] trying everything, in and out of the car.”
Hamilton described his climb through the field as “the most meaningless 10 places, it doesn’t mean anything”, later explaining that his pace was hampered by damage after contact with Alex Albon.
“A horrible weekend. Another one. Just to add to the list,” he said. “I really struggled. After the start I had trouble with my balance. I really struggled with the brakes that we have. Locking the front, locking the rear. There was just no middle ground. No middle ground.”
“I was catching [Nico] Hulkenberg, but at the slowest pace. So I wasn’t really particularly fast. Then I got some damage, I think, with the Williams and then everything changed.
‘I didn’t even know [Albon got a penalty]. I only noticed the shift in balance afterwards – I didn’t even know we were touching.”
Things went from bad to worse for Hamilton after a mid-race collision with Albon. Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
Hamilton’s problems coincide with a tough few weekends for Ferrari, but team boss Fred Vasseur says the excellent performances have already been on display a number of times.
“It’s true on the mathematical side, the last few weekends have been very difficult with Brazil, and this weekend… but overall I think Mexico and Austin were probably also Lewis’ best weekends in terms of pure performance,” Vasseur said. “But now it also applies to the team: we have not put everything together in recent weekends and that is why we have taken a huge step back mathematically and in the championship; but in terms of pure performance I think he is aware that we are not in that bad of shape.
“I can understand Lewis’ reaction when we are just after the race, but he will come down to discuss it and concentrate on the next two, because the next two he will be back. And remember, Lewis was there in FP1 and FP3, and the pace was good. We have to build the weekend this way – and if we start from 20th, that is not the best way.”
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