Lewis Hamilton has revealed his ‘devastation’ in a heartfelt statement delivered after the United States Grand Prix.
Whilst it was Charles Leclerc who enjoyed the victory in Austin, it was the battle between championship rivals Lando Norris and Max Verstappen that provided a thrilling end to the race.
The Brit thought he had snatched third spot from his title rival in the closing stages, but a five-second time penalty following a dramatic altercation between the pair saw him swap positions with Dutchman at the chequered flag.
Verstappen now holds a 57-point advantage over his McLaren counterpart with just five races remaining of what has been a thrilling campaign.
Hamilton was forced to watch all of the action unfold from the paddock after crashing out on the second lap.
Beginning the day from 17th, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion made a blistering start, propelling himself up to 12th place before unexpectedly losing the rear and as a result, ended up in the gravel.
It represented another bitterly disappointing afternoon for the 39-year-old, who has failed to build on the two impressive victories he delivered prior to the summer break.
In the five races since the mid-season interval, Hamilton has collected just 27 points, and with just a handful of grands prix remaining, seems unlikely to add to his record-breaking win tally with Mercedes.
He is set to move to Ferrari next season, where he will hope for a change in fortunes as he chases an eighth world title.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after Sunday’s race, Hamilton appeared shell-shocked as he tried to explain what happened, before issuing an apology to his team.
“I mean that’s never happened before, a first time for everything I guess,” he reflected. “I wasn’t even really pushing at that point and the car started bouncing.
“Bono said I had a 40km tail wind but the left rear was bouncing up in the air then I lost the back end.
“Three-wheeling has sometimes been an issue for us, I’ve just never had that happen before.
“The same thing happened to George [Russell] yesterday on this new update package that we worked so hard to bring – he’s fortunately done a good job today but he had the old package on.
“It’ll be interesting to see if there’s learnings from it but it’s so upsetting, I’m so sorry to all the team back at the factory.
“It was not that I wasn’t focused, I was really caught by surprise by the bouncing that I had and obviously I’m devastated, but onwards and upwards.”
