So many regrets. This is what emerges from Lewis Hamilton's race this Saturday in Las Vegas (Sunday in France). The seven-time world champion was very visible throughout the 50 laps of the event, multiplying the stops and the best laps to gradually move up the hierarchy by playing all his opponents at the wheel of a Mercedes clearly at the level of the one which allowed him to win at Silverstone and Spa.
But his two errors the day before in Q3, which relegated him to tenth on the grid, cost him a real chance to play for victory against George Russell who, starting from pole before resisting the the only attack carried out by Charles Leclerc at the start of the event, had a calm Sunday, content to manage before containing the thunderous return of Hamilton at the very end of the race.
We don't know why we were so fast this weekend.
After welcoming the fourth title of Max Verstappen, crowned from fifth position in the streets of Vegas, Hamilton did not hide his regrets: “It was great. First of all, I want to congratulate Max on his championship victory, with several races still to go. If I had done my job yesterday… it would have been a piece of cake today.”
“But it doesn't matter. I had fun coming back from tenth place and the team did a fantastic job. We don't know why we were so fast this weekend. “But the cars have never been better, so I'm very happy to have helped get us to this point.”
“I mean if the car behaves like that in the next two races, I think we will be in a good position to challenge the guys in front”he added. “The championship is over, all that remains is to fight for the best possible positions.”
Jenson Button, in a wink, reminded him that this Saturday, November 23 (Sunday 24 in France) marked ten years since his second world title, the first acquired with Mercedes. To which Hamilton responded: “We both looked a lot younger back then, didn’t we?”
Avec Pablo Elizalde
France
