What the teams said – Sprint day and qualifying at the 2024 United States Grand Prix

Mercedes

Russell didn’t have a good first lap in the sprint and lost to Norris. From then on he seemed to struggle with tire wear more than his competitors and also lost to the Ferraris. Meanwhile, Hamilton had a technical problem and although he overtook the Haas and moved up a place, he was unable to get close to his stricken teammate.

However, things were to get even worse for the seven-time world champion as the car problem apparently recurred in qualifying. He lost his only lap time on new soft tires in Q1 to the track limits after struggling to keep his car within the lines and was eliminated in the first moment. The Mercedes problems continued on the other side of the pits as Russell crashed heavily towards the end of the third quarter. He was fine, but the resulting yellow flags meant no one else was able to complete his second fast lap.

READ MORE: Hamilton weighs pitlane start after ‘demoralizing’ Q1 exit at Circuit of The Americas

Lewis Hamilton – Sprint: 6th, Qualifying: 19th, 1:34.154

“That was a hard day. The sprint was a difficult session for us as the car didn’t feel as strong as yesterday. The temperatures were warmer than on Friday and that didn’t seem to suit us. We made some changes beforehand.” Qualifying was intended to counteract that and try to push us in a direction that could bring the car closer to the feeling we had on Friday, but we continued to struggle.

“Tomorrow it will be difficult for us to start from 19th place. It will be difficult to find opportunities, but I will try my best to move forward. The car suffered from inconsistent balance and a lack of grip today, so hopefully it stays in a better place on Sunday.

George Russell – Sprint: 5th, Qualifying: 6th, 1:32.974

“Yesterday we fought for first place in sprint qualifying, but today we had big problems. It’s baffling how our fortunes have changed so drastically from one day to the next, being able to fight for pole positions and race wins. If we don’t succeed, we’ll be at the bottom.

“In the sprint I lost a position right at the start and fought hard right from the start to win it back. Unfortunately we had problems with the tires and I fell back. It was difficult to understand our pace, especially on Friday.” We continued to have problems in qualifying on the long track, although my final lap looked strong before I braked at Turn 12. Maybe I pushed too hard at turn 19 to make up for that time and I lost the rear. I’m disappointed with the damage I caused to the car and the work that now needs to be done overnight to fix it.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“A disappointing and frustrating day. After a strong Friday we were hoping for a good performance, and in the sprint it quickly became clear that we didn’t have the pace of our nearest competitors and so we fell back and ended up in fifth and sixth place by a distance.” What’s more, both drivers had this Handling balance from the previous day was missing and they were struggling with overheated tires – Lewis on the rear axle, George on the front axle. We continued to struggle and couldn’t achieve the same level of performance as on Friday. Lewis finished 19th and George 6th, but failed to set his final fast lap.

“Tomorrow’s race will therefore be a tough battle: George faces major repair work after the accident in the third quarter. With Lewis starting from P19, the race will be about damage limitation: the fight for important points will be tough and we need things to work out in our favor.

Andrew Shovlin, director of track engineering

“After a promising Friday, this was a tough Saturday. It became clear early in the sprint that we didn’t have the speed of our competitors. This overheating hit us hard in the second half of the race and we were only able to achieve P5 and P6. We also found a broken part on Lewis’ front suspension after the sprint, which definitely had an impact on the overall result.

“In order to get the car back to the optimal condition we had on Friday, we made some set-up adjustments before qualifying. Unfortunately, these did not have the desired effect. Lewis continued to be unable to achieve a consistent balance, although he was unlucky.” George retired in Q1 after being hit by traffic in the first sector and had a strong lap in Q3, but got stuck in turn 12 with a lock-up and finally escaped with his retirement in turn 19.

“We still have a lot of work to do to prepare George’s car for the race. The team will work hard all evening to achieve this. We know it will probably be a tough battle tomorrow, but we will continue to work diligently hard and try to take advantage of any opportunities that come our way.