Lewis Hamilton believes his lack of pace in the first two stints in the United States GP cost him a shot at Max Verstappen's podium.
In the final stint, Hamilton had fresher tyres than Verstappen and was carving chunks of time out of the Red Bull on his hard compound rubber as he tried to steal away a podium finish.
Ultimately, Hamilton fell 1.020s short of passing the Dutchman, but his challenge was stunted by a late virtual safety car for Valtteri Bottas's stricken Cadillac.
Although the VSC gave Verstappen a lifeline and reduced the green flag laps Hamilton had to attack, the Ferrari driver felt that the lack of pace and understeer in his SF-26 in the first two stints had left him with too much to recover in his final charge back to fourth place - including a pass on Lando Norris.
"I think probably I would have got to have a little bit of a battle with Max maybe in the last couple of laps," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365, when directly asked if the VSC had cost him a podium.
"That would have been awesome, but it was all the result of the first two stints [that I was behind].
"I just lost so much ground, and I can't be giving up that time in the future; I really feel happy with how I drove.
"But it just took two whole stints to try and get this car to turn, and then once it started to turn in the third stint, I was back on the pace with the cars ahead.
"It was 18 seconds to [race-winner Antonelli] ahead, and those guys were obviously very quick, so I've just got to work on that."
[Article continues below]
Second place fight heats up
Following the Austin race, the fight for the runner-up spot in the drivers' championship has closed up.
Four drivers are now within just nine points of each other, with George Russell leading the way but Charles Leclerc within striking distance, with Hamilton and Verstappen sandwiched between.
Below, let us know who you think will finish as runner-up to Kimi Antonelli (assuming he wins the title)!
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the United States GP and look ahead to Mexico City! Red Bull's return of gearbox gremlins is a lead discussion, as is Kimi Antonelli being just days away from becoming world champion.
Rather watch this episode? Then click here!
Most read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!