The ‘nightmare’ that prompted Lewis Hamilton to ‘completely change’ Mercedes

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Lewis Hamilton will likely start from the pit lane for the United States Grand Prix to have a free setup change, following a ‘nightmare’ qualifying session.

The seven-time World Champion has an impressive record at the Circuit of the Americas over the years, with five victories.

Lewis Hamilton was unexpectedly knocked out of the first stage of qualifying on Saturday, after setting the 19th fastest time out of 20 drivers. He will line up on the grid in 18th due to Liam Lawson’s penalty if he decides not to start from the pit lane.

It came as a difficult day for the Mercedes driver after he struggled to progress in the Sprint race, finishing in sixth place and 18 seconds off winner Max Verstappen.

Hamilton later dropped out of qualifying after making a setup change that went in the wrong direction according to journalist Micheal Schmidt on the Formel Schmidt podcast, who believes the Mercedes driver will likely opt for a pit lane start.

Lewis Hamilton to ‘completely rebuild car’ after nightmare US GP qualifying

Hamilton revealed that much of his Sprint race was curtailed due to a problem on the way to the grid at the front suspension, which impacted his balance.

He made a setup change to accommodate it, but that has now put him on another negative path that will require more changes to improve his chances in the race.

“He was driving around in 7th place [during the Sprint] and changed the car a lot compared to yesterday,” said Schmidt.

“The conditions were almost the same but the asphalt temperature went up and so did the wind suddenly, and nothing worked anymore. Hamilton dropped out of Q1 and he said the car was a nightmare and he couldn’t find the balance, so they will completely rebuild the car and start from the pit lane.”

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Mercedes put it down to ‘messy balance’ which led to a lot of ‘front locking’ for Hamilton, blaming the setup for their problems.

Teams trigger automatic pit-lane starts if they take their cars out of post-qualifying Parc Ferme by choice, either to make fundamental setup changes or because of reliability.

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It is often done on Sprint weekends owing to the single practice session before they enter Parc Ferme for Sprint Qualifying.

The team could change the car’s wing settings to give Hamilton a better chance of overtaking cars and having a comeback drive to the points.