Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton topped the times in Q2, but made two critical errors in Q3 which resulted in him finishing 10th.

Mercedes’ strong form in Las Vegas saw George Russell take pole position on Saturday, but Lewis Hamilton wasn’t able to capitalise on the W15’s pace in the crucial moments.

Lewis Hamilton: I just didn’t do the job

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock.

Having been less than half a tenth behind Russell in Q1, Hamilton went quickest of all in Q2 with a 1:32.567 to go a tenth quicker than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Heading into Q3, Hamilton seemed to be a strong contender for pole position, but almost immediately put himself under pressure after a mistake on his first flying lap.

Turning in for Turn 9, the rear of the Mercedes didn’t stick – forcing Hamilton to turn away into the escape area where he quickly gathered it up, turned back around, and resumed the track to head back to the pits for fresh tyres.

For his second run, Hamilton had just embarked on his critical lap when, negotiating the long right-hander Turn 2, the rear got loose on him again and in his attempts to gather it up, he lost the lap.

This resulted in him only managing 10th place while, at the same time, Russell was popping in a 1:32.3 to take pole by a tenth – Hamilton’s quickest time from Q2, had he been able to replicate it in Q3, would have placed him third on the grid.

“Yep,” a clearly unhappy Hamilton told media, including PlanetF1.com, after the session when asked whether he felt a chance at pole had got away from him.

“I just didn’t do the job.

“The car felt different in Q3, and the stability was not there for some reason.

Lewis Hamilton clings to the positive: I’ve got pace

With Hamilton unable to unlock the same performance as Russell at the same time, it’s the latest qualifying struggle for the seven-time F1 World Champion, who trails Russell 17-5 in Grand Prix qualifying in F1 2024.

While race pace has been much stronger for Hamilton, the British driver explained he’d made a wrong choice during the qualifying session which resulted in his struggles for stability.

“The tyres were difficult. That’s why we did a prep lap. And that was the wrong call to do a prep lap, on my side,” he said.

“Then it kind of domino effected from there.”

Explaining that the track gets “grippier, faster, and more enjoyable to drive” as the conditions ramp up at the end of the session, Hamilton explained that the reasons for Mercedes’ performance aren’t quite clear.

“We think it’s tyres, but, I mean, we don’t know why we’re fast this weekend, it must be something to do with temperatures.,” he said.

“[It’s rear instability.] It had been really good up until then, obviously you saw my pace, and then Q3 it just started snapping away.”

Given that a good result had gone begging, Hamilton denied that the qualifying session had left a sour taste in his mouth and, instead, saw the positive in the fact he had pace in the qualifying session without the errors.

“I feel great, to be honest. I wish I was on pole. George is on pole,” he said.

“It’s great for the team. It’s not a stinger. We move forwards, I got three pops at it, two more pops in the next races and see how that goes. The good thing is, I’ve got pace.”