AUSTIN, Texas -- Lewis Hamilton said his team's performance at the U.S. Grand Prix was a long way off its usual standard after he started on pole position and finished third.
Hamilton lost a position at the start of the race to eventual winner Kimi Raikkonen, resulting in Mercedes trying to salvage the situation by adopting a two-stop strategy. The first stop came under a Virtual Safety Car and offered Hamilton the chance to take on new tyres while his rivals were circulating at a slower pace, but he still needed to make a second stop and ultimately that dropped him to third.