"Ultimately, it's the driver" - Lewis Hamilton cannot blame Mercedes for qualifying debacle in Miami, says pundit

F1 pundit Peter Windsor reckons Lewis Hamilton's horrible qualifying session at the 2023 Miami GP was partially his own fault. The seven-time world champion was unable to clock in a fast enough lap to get into Q3 and had to start the main race in 13th.

On his YouTube channel, Windsor explained how it was partially Hamilton's fault for not making the top ten in the qualifying session in Miami. He said that the incident between Kevin Magnussen and Hamilton, where the Danish driver took the last corner of the circuit slowly, forcing Hamilton to squeeze his car to the side and clip the wall.

That could have wavered Lewis Hamilton's concentration in Q2, as he was worried about whether the car was up to task:

"I think Lewis's problem was Q1, when he hit the wall when Magnussen went ridiculously slowly, and Lewis sort of just avoid hitting him and hit the wall on right hand side.

"He did a really good recovery lap at the end of Q1 to get into Q2, but I'm not convinced in his own mind that he was able to lean on the right front as much as he would have if he hadn't hit the wall. Maybe that was there somewhere in the background, even if they (race engineers) said to him it's everything's perfect."

Alhough Windsor understands that Mercedes made a mistake with Lewis Hamilton by placing him around a lot of traffic, he feels the veteran driver could have demanded the team to let him go early so that he could get a free track.

"Some of that is Lewis, you know. This is like, you know, Leclerc not telling Ferrari to put him on slicks at Monaco. Ultimately, it's the driver, and, you know, if Lewis really thinks he wants to be out on track a little bit earlier to avoid that because he's been out there, he should force the issue with the engineers and say, 'I want to be out there now.'"

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Lewis Hamilton urges Mercedes to be better with timing after horrendous qualifying at 2023 Miami GP

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 at the Miami GP, Lewis Hamilton explained how Mercedes need to be accurate in letting him clock in a fast lap for the qualifying session:

"When you're fast, you can be more sat back, more relaxed; you can go at the last minute and take your time. You know you're likely to make it easily into Q3. We knew it was very hard, and there was a 50:50 chance we could get into Q3 so we need to be better with our timing."

The seven-time world champion was out in Q2, as he was at the back of the pack and was unable to retain tyre temperature for a fast lap.