Hamilton pinpoints blame for Miami qualifying pain

Lewis Hamilton has blamed his failure to reach Q3 in Miami Grand Prix qualifying on time mismanagement by Mercedes.

The seven-time World Champion will start 13th after a nightmare session that saw teammate George Russell scrape into the top 10 by only 0.052secs over Williams driver Alex Albon, with Mercedes' final practice struggles carried over.

After being informed of his elimination, Hamilton questioned the lateness of his release onto the circuit for his final attempt, suggesting Mercedes had missed the optimum window for him to complete a competitive lap.

The result confirms Hamilton's worst qualifying in the United States during his tenure on the F1 grid, with Mercedes' lack of competitive edge in Azerbaijan being reflected for the second weekend running and knocking the optimism created by his second-place finish in Australia.

Speaking to media, including RacingNews365.com, the Briton explained: "It [qualifying] started out ok, there were a couple of decent moments throughout the session.

"We generally have struggled to have the true pace to get into Q3, we were just on the cusp of maybe getting in.

"Then right at the end, we just went out too late and I was at the back of maybe like seven cars and I started my lap with not enough temperature in my tyres."