Hamilton's Costly Las Vegas Mistake
Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has squarely placed the blame on Lewis Hamilton for a critical error during qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix that left the seven-time champion starting from the very back of the grid. The incident occurred during a wet Friday night session that marked a new low in what Hamilton himself has described as a 'nightmare' debut season with Ferrari.
A Rare Error Under Pressure
Hamilton, who qualified 20th for the first time on pure pace in his 19-year F1 career, found himself in a precarious position during Q1. After being hindered by yellow flags on his final push lap, the British driver approached the start-finish straight believing he had crossed the timing line too late to begin another attempt.
Seeing red lights flashing, Hamilton lifted off the accelerator. However, replays later revealed this was a significant misjudgment. He had actually crossed the timing line with the lights still green, meaning he could have started another flying lap to improve his position.
Sky Sports F1's Bernie Collins confirmed that the Ferrari pit wall had radioed Hamilton to continue "pushing," but the driver had already made the decision to back off. The mistake proved particularly costly given the challenging conditions and Hamilton's renowned reputation as one of the sport's finest wet-weather drivers.
Button's Verdict: 'He's Lost Focus'
When asked if he could defend Hamilton's error, 2009 world champion Button was unequivocal in his assessment. "No – it's a tricky one," Button stated. "He's not the first one to probably make this mistake, but the timing line is a different line to the gantry."
Button elaborated on the technical aspects of the error, noting: "You should know that because the time comes up on your dash. We all get told what our lap times are when you cross that line."
The Sky F1 pundit acknowledged the difficult circumstances but concluded that Hamilton must shoulder responsibility for the blunder. "I guess he should know every regulation – it's really tricky as a driver if you see a red light flash up above you, you think it's over. But the timing line is obviously before that," Button explained. "When it's that tricky out there, so much going on… he's lost focus on what is correct for starting the next lap."
The performance gap between Hamilton and his teammate was stark, with the 40-year-old ending up 2.3 seconds slower than Charles Leclerc, who qualified ninth. Hamilton appeared unaware of his timing error when speaking to media afterwards, expressing disappointment with the session's outcome.
Meanwhile, Lando Norris secured pole position for McLaren, with Max Verstappen qualifying second and Carlos Sainz taking third for the Saturday night race on the Las Vegas Strip.
