The Mercedes driver suffered a difficult race after contact with Oscar Piastri put him towards the back of the pack in the opening stages of the race.

Lewis Hamilton felt there was more on offer for Mercedes after a “challenging” Las Vegas Grand Prix in which a badly-timed puncture scuppered his chances.

The seven-time World Champion started from 10th on the grid after an early exit in Q2, and was caught up in Turn 1 as a lot of drivers struggled with the low track temperatures.

As he was battling to get back into the points, Hamilton made contact with Oscar Piastri at Turn 14 which caused a right-rear puncture and ruined the chances of both of challenging for a podium.

He eventually made his way up to seventh place but lost out on second in the Drivers’ Championship as Sergio Perez finished third to out-score him by the seven points that were required.

“It was a pretty challenging race. I started on the Hard tyre which was tricky at the beginning,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

“I got hit by someone behind a big hit, I think it was from Carlos [Sainz] and I was just trying not to hit the cars that spun round and I fell back I think five or six places.”

Much of Hamilton’s time in the race was lost when he had to slow down due to the puncture cause by the contact with Piastri.

When asked about the collision, Hamilton said: “I don’t really know exactly what happened.

“I thought I didn’t have a puncture immediately, so I was accelerating and just as I got alongside the pit lane entry, I felt the rear was moving, and I was too late to come in.

“So I had to do a whole slow lap. I must have lost like 40 seconds or something with everything, but grateful that I was able to come back.

“There are strengths within that car, but sometimes it’s just really hard to get the performance out of it.”