Lewis Hamilton weighing up pit lane start after ‘demoralising’ Q1 exit at Circuit of The Americas

“In the Sprint we had some sort of failure on the formation lap on the front suspension, and I had that throughout the Sprint race,” Hamilton went on. “That made the balance really difficult. We did change a couple of things, just in the direction of what we would have done yesterday, but the car was a nightmare today in quali… Just a very inconsistent balance, and no grip.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch the qualifying action from Austin as Norris takes spectacular pole while Russell crashes out

Looking ahead to Sunday, Hamilton added pragmatically that he may consider changing power unit elements, telling Sky Sports F1: “I should probably start in the pit lane, otherwise I won’t be going anywhere from where I am.”

Mercedes’ pain was added to, meanwhile, when Hamilton’s team mate George Russell crashed out of Q3, leaving him P6 on the grid for Sunday’s race – with Russell having also reportedly damaged the new parts on his Mercedes W15.