Martin Brundle’s verdict on what was to blame for Lewis Hamilton’s US Grand Prix DNF

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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won’t look back at the 2024 United States Grand Prix particularly fondly.

After a four-week break between races where Mercedes once again looked to be at odds with their car, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell would have hoped to be in a much stronger position.

Unlike the summer shutdown where teams couldn’t work on their cars, every manufacturer had time to work on their cars and deliver updates ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

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It was Ferrari who were the fastest team during Sunday’s race in Austin despite not bringing any updates to the track, highlighting just how difficult it is to develop these cars.

However, Mercedes looked to have turned a corner on Friday when Russell narrowly missed out on pole position in the Sprint Race.

Both drivers fell back during that 19-lap event on Saturday before having a disastrous qualifying session.

Hamilton was eliminated in Q1 while Russell was forced to start from the pit lane after a heavy crash during Q3.

The seven-time world champion complained about how far down the grid he was but that didn’t matter as just a few laps into the race, he was out.

Martin Brundle and David Croft gave their views on Hamilton’s accident on Sky Sports F1 after watching his Mercedes become stranded in the gravel.

Lewis Hamilton suffered a disastrous weekend during the United States Grand Prix

Watching the incident back, Croft said: “Now, this is Lewis Hamilton, what happened to him? Through turn 18 we go, we know where the car ends up, how did it get there? All by himself!”

Brundle replied: “Nothing he could do about that, just turned in normally”

Hamilton’s team radio then started and he simply said: “Yeah sorry guys.”

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Brundle continued and said: “Just turned in normally and he simply hadn’t got enough rear grip.”

Croft concluded: “And it’s like, why, what happened? How did that happen say the fans who were chanting Lewis, Lewis as he got out of the car but that is a very disappointing end to a very disappointing weekend for Lewis Hamilton.”

Lewis Hamilton didn’t take Martin Brundle’s advice before the US Grand Prix

Hamilton was always going to have his work cut out after being eliminated so early in qualifying.

He joined Valtteri Bottas at the back of the grid having not lined up alongside the Finn since they were teammates at Mercedes.

He started fantastically and was up to P12 after navigating the ultra-wide first corner where Esteban Ocon was spun by Alex Albon.

Brundle suggested that Hamilton should have changed his power unit after his early elimination and started from the pit lane alongside his teammate.

It could have benefitted him in the long run but he wouldn’t have seen this error coming even if was exactly the same mistake Russell made on Saturday.