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Lewis Hamilton endured one of the most difficult qualifying sessions of his illustrious career under the lights of the Las Vegas Strip, finishing dead last in P20. In a wet and chaotic session that saw the grid order scrambled, the seven-time world champion was eliminated in Q1, marking the first time in his career he has qualified slowest on pure pace.
Hamilton’s exit wasn't down to a single error, but rather a "perfect storm" of mishaps that derailed his session. The Ferrari driver struggled immediately to generate temperature in the wet tyres on the slippery street circuit, a problem that plagued the Scuderia throughout the session. While his teammate Charles Leclerc managed to scramble through to Q3 (eventually finishing P9), Hamilton could never find the grip to attack the corners.
The Briton’s final attempts to escape the drop zone were compromised by a series of incidents. First, replays showed Hamilton clipping a trackside bollard at Turn 14, which appeared to get lodged under his SF-25, likely disrupting the car’s aerodynamics.
To make matters worse, his final flying lap was ruined by yellow flags in the final sector, forcing him to lift. This was compounded by a critical miscommunication with his race engineer, Riccardo Adami. As Hamilton approached the line, he asked, "Are we safe?" to which Adami replied, "Keep pushing." However, seeing the red lights on the gantry (signaling the session end or weighbridge), Hamilton hesitated and aborted the lap, mistakenly believing he had missed the chequered flag or that the session was already lost.
Speaking to the media afterward, a dejected Hamilton didn't mince words. "It obviously feels horrible," he admitted. "I couldn't get the tyres to work. I just had a lot of understeer and then I think one of my front brakes was glazed."
He described his debut season with Ferrari as his "hardest year" in Formula 1. Despite the car feeling "awesome" in the dry FP3 session earlier in the day, the arrival of rain completely evaporated his confidence in the machinery.
Starting from the very back of the grid, Hamilton faces a daunting task for the Grand Prix. With the narrow street circuit making overtaking difficult and spray likely to be an issue if the rain persists, salvaging points will require a chaotic race or a strategic masterstroke from the Ferrari pit wall.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.