Lewis Hamilton qualified dead last for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, marking the first time in his 19-year Formula 1 career he has been slowest on pure pace. The seven-time world champion finished 2.301 seconds behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in treacherous wet conditions on the Nevada street circuit.
Hamilton's premature exit in the first qualifying session represents the worst starting position of his career based on outright performance. The 20th-place finish is also Ferrari's first dead-last qualification since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The drenched Las Vegas Strip Circuit caught out the British driver despite showing promising fifth-fastest pace in the earlier dry practice session. Hamilton reported over team radio: «I couldn't get the tyres to work.» He struggled with tire temperature, understeer, and what he described as a glazed front brake.
Visibility and conditions
Hamilton told reporters including Mirror Sport that visibility proved catastrophic in the persistent rainfall. «[Visibility] was as bad as it gets. I couldn't see anything – I hit a bollard at one point, I just couldn't see the corner,» he said. The conditions forced all drivers onto full-wet tires on the already low-grip surface.
He added: «That's definitely the slipperiest it has been, plus I couldn't get the tyres working. The car was feeling great in FP3 and I honestly thought I was going to do well, I was really excited and thought that finally we would have a good day, but it wasn't to be.»
Difficult season continues
The qualifying disaster extends Hamilton's challenging maiden Ferrari campaign. He has not stood on the podium for his new team, despite winning the sprint race in China in March. Two weeks earlier, he retired from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which he described as «a nightmare.»
«It feels horrible, it doesn't feel good. But all I can do, I've just got to let it go and try to come back tomorrow... This year is definitely the hardest year,» Hamilton said. «We've got a really good car. It will be really hard to come back from 20th.»
Lando Norris secured pole position for McLaren with a time of 1min 47.934secs, ahead of Max Verstappen in second and Carlos Sainz in third.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
