Lewis Hamilton looked furious after a handful of mistakes cost him in Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying, saying “it is what it is” after being asked what went wrong before finishing in 10th place
Lewis Hamilton could not hide his frustration after two costly errors in Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying which mean he will start Sunday’s race in 10th place.
The Brit had a nightmare Q3 as a mistake on turn 12 saw him go off track, forcing him to abandon the lap and later suffered a snap on his second attempt.
There was much better success for Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who finished in pole position for the race in Sin City – seeing off Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz by just 0.098 seconds.
Sky Sports Formula 1 pundit Martin Brundle summed up the situation perfectly as he claimed the Mercedes driver would be furious about his mistakes that resigned him to 10th.
“Lewis will be seething with himself,” he said after the qualifying session. “He must have run wide because it was deleted. His team-mate is on pole and Lewis will start 10th.”
Hamilton cut a dejected figure after his disappointing result and said “It is what it is”, adding: “It’s been a good weekend so far so I’ll give it my best shot tomorrow.
“Congrats to George. Conditions are great, it’s nice and cool, it’s been really nice all weekend. I’m really quite far back so I’ll just see what I can do from there. Degradation is going to be key, they had an eventful race here last year.”
Russell was elated by contrast after securing pole and said he was “surprised” by how quick he was on the track.
“I felt confident in myself and knew if I did a clean lap, I would be on the front row,” he said. “To get pole is incredible but ultimately we have had a few good qualifyings and need to convert it.
“We have to do some deep diving to understand why we have been so quick this weekend because it was a real surprise.”
The main event of the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris – with the former aiming to secure the world championship by seeing off his British rival on Sunday.