Lewis Hamilton shares an inspirational message for Ferrari after a disastrous F1 US GP sprint shootout

Lewis Hamilton shared a message of hope with fans on social media after a disappointing US GP Sprint qualifying session for Ferrari saw him drop to P8. Despite the poor performance the car showcased against competitors, Hamilton feels that more performance can be extracted.

The start of the United States GP weekend turned out to be pretty disappointing for the Ferrari duo. While both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc did manage to crawl into the SQ3 against their competition, their early final laps saw other cars going much faster, owing to the track evolution, and their cars being more competitive.

Both Williams, Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin managed to outscore the Ferraris. Lewis Hamilton is set to start the sprint down in P8, with Charles Leclerc in P10.

After the session, Lewis Hamilton made an inspiring post on his social media, addressing his fans, claiming that the car felt great on Friday until the qualifying session started, and that more performance can be extracted from it.

"Felt great in the car today until quali. Still I'm feeling optimistic, we can still have fun from there guys. The support so far this weekend is immense, thank you all for being here and for your love❤️🙏," he wrote on his Instagram story.

Lewis Hamilton addresses fans after a disappointing Sprint qualifying at COTA (@lewishamilton on Instagram)

Ferrari has struggled for pace throughout the season this year despite strong competitiveness in 2024. The car continues to lack pace compared to their competitors on the track; moreover, there was also a speculation of their team principal changing in the future, but Hamilton feels these "rumors" are rather "distracting."

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Lewis Hamilton on "distracting" Christian Horner rumors

Former Red Bull Racing team principal, Christian Horner, was recently linked to Ferrari after the team's consistent struggle this year. This would have meant that Fred Vasseur, who has been serving his role with the Italian squad since the 2023 season, would have been replaced.

However, Lewis Hamilton refused to elaborate on the "rumor," as he labeled it. Speaking to the media, he claimed that these are distracting for the team and the crew.

"I don't know where the rumours have come from so I can't really shed much light on that," Hamilton told the media. "But it's a little bit distracting for us as a team. The team has made it clear where they stand in terms of re-signing Fred." "Fred and I and the whole team are working really hard on the future for the team. These things naturally aren't helpful."

Furthermore, Hamilton replied negatively when asked if Horner's joining the team was a good idea.

"I don't and I'm not going to entertain rumours."

With the pace that Max Verstappen has showcased so far into the weekend, Ferrari could drop to fourth place in the Constructors' Championship. They earlier had a strong hold on the second place; however, both RBR and Mercedes evolved rapidly.

Edited by Gunaditya Tripathi