Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton admitted that Red Bull were simply too fast in Austin after coming agonisingly close to catching race winner Max Verstappen at the very end of the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.
After starting second on the grid, Hamilton grabbed the lead from title rival Verstappen off the line into Turn 1. But the Dutchman retook the lead after the pitstops had played out, leaving Hamilton to chase down the Red Bull as the laps ticked down towards the chequered flag.
He eventually finished just 1.333s behind Verstappen, slipping to 12 points behind him in the championship.
"We gave it everything we had, and they were just quicker than us this weekend, for whatever reason," he said afterwards, as per formula1.com. "I can't pinpoint it. It looked like they had just a better rear end, a little bit less sliding than we had."
P4 was captured by Charles Leclerc who drove brilliantly for Ferrari having held off Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren at the start, the Australian having made up one place at the expense of Carlos Sainz early on. That left Valtteri Bottas sixth for Mercedes ahead of Carlos Sainz, the Ferrari driver passed for the place late on by the Mercedes man who recovered from ninth on the grid.
Ricciardo's teammate Lando Norris took eighth having lost a place to Bottas after the second set of pit stops. Behind Norris was AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda in P9. In the final point-paying spot was Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, who started 18th after an engine change penalty.
( With inputs from ANI )
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