The disappointment caused by his pitiful exit from the track in Austin must have been mitigated by the impressive Ferrari double in Texas, but to what extent is Lewis Hamilton still focused on 2024?
Driving errors from the seven-time World Champion are extremely rare, so we were right to wonder on the evening of the United States Grand Prix.
Having gone off the road after losing control of his Mercedes on the second lap of the race, Hamilton remained stuck in the gravel trap, bringing his performance to a premature end.
Disappointed at having made a mistake, his car having undoubtedly been unbalanced by a gust of side wind, the British driver was philosophical without really understanding what had happened to him.
Incomprehension
“I had an excellent start at the back of the peloton,
says Lewis. I felt good and I arrived in twelfth position after the first lap: five places better! Best start in a long time in turn 1. I wasn't even attacking at that point, I was literally trying to get my race off to a good start, obviously, and get the tires up to temperature.”
“The car started to bounce at the front left and the rear rebelled, like George yesterday, he describes.
In FP1, I had the same thing, I spun in turn 3, which is very rare, I had never spun in turn 3 in all these years that I've been running here.”
A big challenge awaits him at Ferrari
Hamilton would like to end his story with Mercedes in style in the last Grands Prix, although he must welcome the rise of Ferrari illustrated by Austin's resounding double. We are curious to see how he will behave against Charles Leclerc with full confidence in 2025.
He would not be the first World Champion to join the Scuderia, but his last title dates back five years already when his predecessors Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher had arrived in Maranello freshly crowned with a world crown.
As for Fernando Alonso, he arrived at Ferrari in 2010 four years after his second title with Renault, but he was only 28 years old while Sir Lewis will be 40 next January, 13 more than his teammate. ..
