Stunned Lewis Hamilton asks Ferrari ‘what happened’ in unbroadcast US Grand Prix radio

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Lewis Hamilton was the lead Ferrari driver in eighth place during a bleak Sprint qualifying at the United States Grand Prix. Teammate Charles Leclerc was the slowest runner in SQ3.

Hamilton’s time of a 1:33.035 was nearly nine-tenths behind polesitter Max Verstappen. In addition to some of his traditional rivals, he was outpaced by midfield drivers like Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.

It was particularly damning to be four-tenths behind the high-flying Sauber of Hulkenberg. The Swiss team are a Ferrari engine customer.

Lewis Hamilton baffled by Ferrari’s ‘sudden’ loss of pace at United States Grand Prix

Ferrari had shown some promise earlier on Friday. Hamilton was the early pace-setter in FP1 and, while he was only classified eighth, he didn’t use the soft tyres at the end of the session.

He maintained his strong speed on the opening runs of SQ1, but then Ferrari only scraped into the top-10 shoot-out. Leclerc dug out a lap at the end of the session to jump out of the drop zone, while Hamilton was only a matter of thousandths ahead of Kimi Antonelli, the first driver eliminated.

• READ MORE: Former Ferrari engineer reveals the one mistake the F1 team have been making for nearly 20 years

“What happened?” Hamilton asked Riccardo Adami in an unbroadcast radio message. “How are we, all of a sudden, so far off?”

Adami replied that Hamilton was losing time throughout the lap, particularly at turn 20 where he had a snap of oversteer. But even a cleaner SQ3 didn’t deliver a marked improvement.

Charles Leclerc’s damning radio message after Sprint qualifying

In an indictment of Ferrari’s current struggles, Leclerc told Bryan Bozzi that he was ‘unfortunately happy’ with his position. He feels it’s reflective of the SF-25’s pace, even if Hamilton was around a tenth ahead.

“Considering everything, I’m unfortunately happy with the lap,” he said. “I guess it’s a P10, but there’s nothing more here. That’s our position.”

Ferrari haven’t been on the podium since the Belgian GP before the summer break. Their performance on Friday suggests they’ll struggle to end that drought this weekend, but they can change their set-up after the Sprint.

Leclerc says it’s a ‘difficult time’ at Ferrari as rumours swirl around the team amid their on-track underperformance. The biggest concerns their leadership, with Christian Horner linked this week.