Martin Brundle laments ‘miserable’ pit stop for 38-year-old driver in Las Vegas

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Not many things went right for Lewis Hamilton in Las Vegas today, including his pit stop after a clash with McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.

Martin Brundle was on commentary for Sky Sports F1 and was lamenting the bad luck of both Hamilton and Piastri after a racing incident between the pair.

Both drivers knew they had work to do on Saturday night after a poor showing in qualifying in the early hours of that morning.

Oscar Piastri and teammate Lando Norris both missed out on Q2, which would have been particularly disappointing for the Brit who finished on the podium in Brazil just two weeks ago.

Lewis Hamilton suffered a similar fate in the following session, failing to reach the top ten shootout for the third time this season, although he was promoted into the top half of the field by Carlos Sainz’s rather harsh penalty.

The experienced Brit was then caught up in the first-corner carnage and had to fight his way through the field in a very quick car.

However, when he dived down the inside of Piastri, the pair made contact and despite their wheels hitting each other flush, they both suffered punctures.

Hamilton’s pit stop a lap later in Las Vegas wasn’t good and further set him back as he tried to achieve the very improbable task of chasing down Sergio Perez in the driver’s standings.

That quest is now over and he heads to Abu Dhabi intending to keep Ferrari at baby in the Constructors’ Championship.

Hamilton pit stop costly in Las Vegas

In the aftermath of the contact with Oscar Piastri, Hamilton was forced to pit after getting a puncture.

It must have felt like he was stationary for an age and Brundle said: “Miserable pit stop there for Lewis as well.

“Obviously, the puncture makes it difficult to get the jacks under the car but 6.3 seconds for Hamilton.”

Covering the race for BBC Sport, Jolyon Palmer agreed and said: “Hamilton’s race is falling apart as he drops down through the field.”

Hamilton’s pit stop taking so long is hardly the fault of the team as they struggled to deal with his slightly damaged car in Las Vegas.

To recover to 7^th after losing so much time running with a puncture for an entire lap was very impressive from Hamilton.

The worry now is the ground that Mercedes lost to Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship with the gap now just four points.

Hamilton looks set to go without a Grand Prix victory for the second season in succession.

Given he has over 100 wins to his name throughout his career he will be frustrated not to have stood on the top step of the podium since 2021.

He still has one more opportunity in Abu Dhabi to end that streak, but challenging the Red Bulls is going to be very difficult.