Hamilton says ‘I was amazed’ to lead the US Grand Prix with still waiting for victory

Lewis Hamilton climbed an exciting podium and drove nine laps on his way to the seventh podium of the season at the Circuit of the Americas…

Mercedes may still be chasing its first win of the season, but in Texas, they overtook Ferrari to close the gap in Creators Rank to 53 points. Hamilton started in the second row of the US Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez They were demoted with Grid’s penalties.

READ MORE: Verstappen beats Hamilton for USA Grand Prix win as Red Bull secures emotional win for manufacturer

“I mean, I’m broke,” Hamilton said after finishing second. “The car was a handful today. I was amazed at first to be in the lead. It’s something we’ve worked hard on as a team during the year and I felt a lot of hope, but it’s okay.

“We will stick to that, we will keep pushing and we will try to give everything we have in the next three [Grands Prix]. It will come to us at some point.”

The seven-time champion finished second in the Texans after retiring from number one Carlos Sainz on the first lap. Hamilton took the lead after undermining Max Verstappen, who slowly stopped in second place, but quickly passed the Mercedes driver – who won the race while his team got Creators Championship.

“Thank you so much to the fans here, we have such an amazing crowd,” said Hamilton. “This is the biggest crowd we’ve had here the whole time we’ve been here. Second, I want to give a big shout-out to my team. We came here with upgrades, and we closed the gap a little bit.”

READ MORE: Sainz-Pole-sitter says he ‘paid the price again’ after suffering sixth DNF of the season at the start of the US Grand Prix

“We were very, very close, I did everything in my power to try to stay ahead [of Verstappen] But they were a bit fast today. But great strategy, great race for Red Bull and once again my condolences to the team,” he said, after leaving Red Bull co-founder, Dietrich Mateschitz.

After receiving a five-second penalty for contact with Sainz at the start, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell finished fifth in the US.