The errors that denied Lewis Hamilton a spot on the podium at F1's US Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has detailed the factors that caused him to miss out on the podium at Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver commenced the race from fifth position and overtook Isack Hadjar for fourth right at the start, despite being the only competitor on used (soft) tyres during the initial phase.

However, Hamilton lost 0.277 seconds per lap to his teammate Charles Leclerc during that period, and an additional 0.422 seconds to Max Verstappen, who were both on fresh soft tyres. That time deficit was what the British driver needed to surpass Verstappen for third place at the conclusion of the Austin race – and potentially overtake Leclerc for second as well.

The primary reason for that early sluggishness, as explained by the seven-time world champion, was his subpar setup during the initial stint – a result of exploring wrong avenues during free practice.

“I was lacking pace in the first two stints, basically. I just couldn't turn the car,” Hamilton stated.

“Ultimately, it all kind of started on Friday. Wrong setup really for FP1 and went the wrong direction in FP2, reverted back and got to a better place in FP3.

“But there's a subtle difference between Charles’ and my car, basically, just in the race. It's just to do mostly with flap, how much wing you put in, and I think we've just been under-hitting it – continuously under-hitting it for some reason.

“When you do the laps of the grid, it feels like the car is good. And then as soon as the race starts, it's just massive washout and understeer. I couldn't do anything about it, so they just pulled away. I lost those eight seconds, and that was really why I didn't get that [third] position in the end.”

He continued: “Through the pitstops, I added four clicks [of front wing angle], the next pitstop I added another four clicks, and even then, I'm still another four clicks too short. And it's crazy to be 12 clicks down. We really need to look at how we get into that point.

“But I think it would have been a bit different if we had started with it in FP2, where you did the long run. That's where Charles got the experience on that setup, and I didn't get the long run on it.

“So, as I said, I got a bit on the back foot, but lots of positives to take from it. The team did a really great job with pitstops and the strategy, and we obviously had a decent pace today, particularly the last stint. If I had that in the first two, we would have for sure been on the podium.”

Hamilton’s difficulties were further exacerbated by his tyre selection; he opted for the hard compound for the final stint instead of switching to another set of mediums as initially intended, but the damage had already been done.

“I chose to have two medium tyres because they didn't think the hard tyre was going to be any good,” he clarified. “In hindsight, two hard tyres would have been the better choice – the hard tyre proved to be the best option.

“And then it meant I started on a used soft which, from used to new, is two seconds of race time. And it affects the start as well compared to others that are all new. All the cars ahead are new, but I had a really good start, nearly got to third place, but Charles got the outside and I couldn't capitalize on that.”

Hamilton was also affected by the late virtual safety car deployment to recover Valtteri Bottas’ stranded Cadillac. His newer tyres allowed him to catch Verstappen by nearly one second per lap, but the neutralization hindered his recovery.

When asked if the outcome might have differed without the VSC, Hamilton responded: “Probably I would have had a little bit of a battle with Max, maybe the last couple of laps. Yeah, that would have been awesome. But, as I said, I think it was all a result of the first two stints where I just lost so much ground. I can't afford to give up that time in the future.

“I really feel like I'm content with how I drove. It just took two whole stints to try and get this car to turn. And then once it started to turn in the third stint, I was back on pace with the guys ahead. But it's a big gap to close. It's eight, nine seconds or whatever it was to the car ahead, and those guys were obviously very quick. So, I’ve just got to work on not losing that.”