Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari’s performance at the Austin Grand Prix was ‘a great result’ after he and teammates Charles Leclerc finished fourth and third respectively.
Despite underperforming in Saturday’s sprint race, the Prancing Horse found good pace during the Grand Prix, with Hamilton moving into fourth place during Sunday’s race after overtaking former Mercedes teammate George Russell.
Leclerec battled McLaren’s Lando Norris but was unable to get past the title challenger and instead had to settle for third place, although he was named driver of the day for his efforts.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed victory and added more points to his sprint race victory, meaning he is just 40 points behind Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri in his hunt for a fifth world title.
“Yes, a good result, a great result for the team,” Hamilton mused after the race.
“Third and fourth, good points. It’s great to finish ahead of the Mercedes team, to get those points and even ahead of a McLaren. Absolutely positive.”
“Moving forward, even after a bad start. There are a lot of positives to be taken from it and of course I want to progress, but we are certainly on the right track.”
Hamilton was then asked if he had any regrets about Ferrari’s strategy of sending Leclerc on soft tires first, but the 40-year-old decided to look at the overall positives of Ferrari’s game plan.
“I think in the end this was clearly the fastest strategy,” he explained. “Before Charles’ stop I was level with him, but to come out 10 seconds behind was far too much of a gap for me to try to overtake and I couldn’t close the gap at all.
“That was a bit of a shame, but considering we didn’t upgrade the car to be in contention, it shows that the team did a great job this weekend. We’re so close, but I don’t have that podium and I’ll keep trying.”
