Lewis Hamilton reveals staggering Ferrari damage impact

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he was losing half a second per lap due to extensive damage to his car during the Miami Grand Prix.

Hamilton was embroiled in a wheel-to-wheel battle on the opening lap as he looked to make gains from sixth place.

However, he made contact with the Alpine of Franco Colapinto, which stripped his car of key carbon-fibre components.

Although he was able to hold on to seventh place at the chequered flag, Hamilton stated he was carrying significant damage.

“I was really unlucky to get caught up in Max's spin and obviously lost positions from there,” he told media including RacingNews365.

“Then I got damage from Franco and that lost me a ton of downforce. I was just in no man's land after that.

“I lost half a second of downforce on the car, I was just driving around, trying to get as many points as I could with the damage.”

Hamilton asserted confidence that he would have been in the mix if not for the damage he picked up.

“We progressed going into qualifying and the laps to the grid felt really strong,” he added.

“I was feeling like ‘we're going to be strong in this race’ - and then obviously, with the damage, it's the worst when it happens on lap one.

“There’s just nothing you can do.”