Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton suspects the team's United States Grand Prix upgrades led to his disastrous weekend at the Circuit of the Americas. The seven-tim
upgrades led to his disastrous weekend at the Circuit of the Americas. The seven-time world champion encountered suspension issues during both the sprint race and qualifying on Saturday. His troubles continued into Sunday’s Grand Prix, where he violently spun into the gravel at Turn 19 on lap three.
The 39-year-old driver suspects the new upgrades triggered bouncing issues, completely disrupting the balance of his car. Speaking on the incident during the USGP, he told“I had a great start, was feeling good and got up to 12th. It was the best start that I’ve had at turn one in a long time. Hamilton was confident that the bouncing issue would have resurfaced later in the race had he not spun out. He added:
The British driver then highlighted the similarity with Russell's incident in qualifying, whose car performed better after he reverted to the old-spec W15 for the Grand Prix. This led Hamilton to conclude that the upgrades could have led to the challenges at COTA. He added:“I had the spin in Turn 3, which is so rare. I have never spun in Turn 3 in all the years I’ve been here.