Mercedes has explained why Lewis Hamilton appeared to drop so far off the pace behind his team mate Valtteri Bottas in the final round of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Hamilton was only fifth fastest at the end of the session, but motorsport strategy director James Vowles said that the cause for the poor performance was a technical one, and not down to the driver. "Qualifying 1 and qualifying 2, both Valtteri and Lewis were trading times and both towards the sharp end of the grid. But come qualifying 3, Lewis dropped back to fifth. So what happened? “During the course of the lap, underneath his right hand, there’s a little rotary and that rotary adjusts the engine...
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