Hamilton blame USA GP update for hi race retirement

Lewis Hamilton believes that aerodynamic issues related to the new updates Mercedes brought to the United States Grand Prix might be responsible for his early race retirement.

The seven-time world champion was the first and only driver to retire from the race, after getting stuck in the gravel trap at Turn 19 during lap three, ending his tough weekend in Austin.

Teammate George Russell also spun during qualifying, and Hamilton had made a mistake during practice that he couldn’t explain. As a result, Hamilton suspects that the bouncing triggered by the new W15 update might be the root cause of all the team’s problems.

Speaking to Motorsport.com about his spin in the race, Hamilton said: “I got a great start, I was feeling good, and I made my way up to 12th. It was the best start I’ve had at Turn 1 in a long time.”

“At that point, I wasn’t even pushing, I was literally just trying to keep going and get the tires warmed up.”

“The car started bouncing, the front left started bouncing, and the rear started to spin. It was the same as what George experienced yesterday.”

Hamilton, evaluating the similar crashes experienced by himself and Russell, said the team should look at the impact of the new package brought here.

The British driver said: “I had the same thing in first practice. I spun at Turn 3, which is very rare. In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never spun at Turn 3.”

“We were discussing the issue George had yesterday, he reverted to the old spec and looked good, so it could be something related to the new update.”

When asked whether the issues might prompt Mercedes to return to the old spec for next week’s Mexico GP, Hamilton replied: “We’ll investigate as much as we can and take the data from today to see whether we go old or new next week.”

Hamilton had an up-and-down weekend in Austin, and the W15’s inconsistent form once again confused the drivers and the team.

Despite being on course for pole in the sprint qualifying on Friday, a yellow flag ruined his efforts, and then an early suspension issue on Saturday crushed his recovery hopes.

Later in the main qualifying session, he endured a nightmare, getting knocked out in Q1, finishing 19th.

Starting the race 17th, thanks to Russell starting from the pit lane and Lawson’s grid penalty, Hamilton made a great start, rising to 12th on the first lap before spinning out of the race on lap 3.

Reflecting on the car’s behavior, Hamilton felt the incident was inevitable: “If the bouncing didn’t happen on that lap, it would have happened on another because something wasn’t right with the car.”

“The same thing happened all weekend with this new package, so it was really devastating. But it is what it is.”