Lewis Hamilton revealed he almost suffered the same crash as his team mate did on the reconnaissance lap before yesterday’s sprint race in Miami.
Charles Leclerc was unable to start the race after sliding into a barrier at turn 10 as heavy rain fell while drivers made their way to the grid before the race. Hamilton, who finished third in the race, revealed the same thing almost happened to him.
“When we all went out for the formation lap, obviously Charles had that moment, I had exactly the same moment. I was right behind him and somehow it just stopped going towards the wall, right at the last moment.
“So that was nearly both of us out. So to come from that to then get these points, I’m really grateful.”
Leclerc, who was later reprimanded for trying to drive his damaged car back to the pits, said he aquaplaned on a patch of water in the left-hand turn. Ferrari sent both drivers out of the pits on intermediate tyres, which Hamilton said on his radio had been a mistake.
Race control delayed the start of the race due to the wet conditions. When it began, Hamilton fell back initially on his intermediate tyres, but moved up to third place at the end of the race by changing to slick rubber early.
“It wasn’t looking very good,” he said. “In qualifying, obviously, we were quite a chunk off [the McLarens] and then getting onto the inters I was just sliding around.
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“I had the Williams behind me, I think, and there was another one behind him who, most likely, I was going to be overtaken by. So I was like, I’ve got to roll the dice.
“I was on full lock through turn 12 and full lock through turn 16 and it still wasn’t turning. So I was like, let’s just go for it.
“If I’m honest, I should have done it maybe a lap or two before that. I think it would have been probably the same result because these guys were a bit too far ahead. But I’m really happy to get back up there and get the points.”
Qualifying for the grand prix went less well for Hamilton as he failed to make the cut for Q3 by three hundredths of a second and is due to start from 12th place.
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