Lewis Hamilton admits that Mercedes' deficit to pole position in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix is "difficult" for the team to take. The seven-time World Champion and teammate George Russell initially qualified in fifth and sixth respectively, though will be promoted to third and fourth on the grid due to Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez taking grid penalties. Hamilton's lap time was nearly sixth tenths of a second off that of pole-sitter Carlos Sainz, despite the Silver Arrows having brought a range of updates to the car in Austin. "The fact is we’re over six tenths off," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365.com , after the session. "So given that everyone's worked so hard to bring upgrades this weekend and the gap's the same, that's difficult for us."
Hamilton explains change between practice and qualifying
Despite the deficit in qualifying, Hamilton had previously felt that the W13 was performing well during practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas. "All weekend it's been feeling really good," the Briton said. "I was feeling great in the car yesterday in P1 and then even in P2 with the tyre test and then this morning. "Then we got into qualifying and the thing went massively to oversteer. So I was just battling, catching the rear a lot of the time. "We went rearwards mechanically, just one step. It's tiny, but it seemed to make a huge difference with maybe the temperature drop."
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