Hamilton keen to avoid setup errors in Mexico: 'I've got to extract more'

Lewis Hamilton says he can get stronger results for Ferrari if he can start the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend with a better setup than the direction he took in Austin.

Charles Leclerc finished second to Kimi Antonelli in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, while Hamilton was fourth and just missed out on a podium as he chased down Max Verstappen. That strong finish came after Hamilton struggled early on, but he says both tire availability and car setup hurt him in the opening phase of the race.

“I didn't have a new tire to start on, so it put me a bit on the back foot compared to the cars ahead of me,” Hamilton said. “So I had a little bit more deg in that first stint than they did. A new tire to a used tire is about two seconds of race pace. So I lost that in the first stint. But just balance was my biggest issue. Balance was off. But I think the team did a great job in the stops and the strategy.

“Charles obviously did a great job this weekend. It's good for points to be ahead of McLaren, so we can keep second in the constructors' championship.

“I've really got to try to extract more from this car in the next couple of races. I do believe I could be quicker if we could just get the setup right. It wasn't far off, but it was at the beginning of the stint. I just need to look into how we get to that conclusion and how I end up in that situation.

“It's happened a few times, like in Silverstone, for example. I just couldn't keep up with Charles because he had much more front wing than I did. And then I couldn't turn the car. It was the same [on Sunday].”

Explaining his struggles in more detail, Hamilton says the amount of front wing he runs starts from the FP1 setup choices and often feels good pre-race but proves to not be the right direction once the lights go out.

“I was lacking pace in the first two stints basically. I just couldn't turn the car and I think ultimately it all kind of started on Friday. [Had the] wrong setup really for FP1, then went in the wrong direction in FP2, reverted back and got to a better place for FP3 but there's a subtle difference between Charles and my car basically just in the race and it's just to do mostly with flap, how much wing you put in.

“I think we've just been under hitting it, continuously under hit it for some reason. When you do the laps of the grid it feels like the car's good and then as soon as the race starts massive washout and understeer and I couldn't do anything about it so they just pulled away. I lost those eight seconds and that's really why I didn't get that position in the end.

“Through the pit stops I added four clicks [of front wing], the next pit stop I added another four clicks and even then I'm still another four clicks too short and it's crazy like to be 12 clicks down. We really need to look at how we get to that point you know but I think it would have been a bit different if we had started with it I think in FP2 where you did the long run.

"That's where Charles got the experience on that set-up and I didn't get the long run on it, so as I said put me a bit on the back foot. But lots of positives to take from the team, they did a really great job with pit stops and strategy and we obviously had decent pace particularly in the last [stint]. If I had that in the first two we would have for sure been on the podium I think.”