Hamilton: Anything is possible

That "anything" obviously means victory on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas for Hamilton, who sorely needs a win in the top flight again. His tally has been pegged at an incredible 103 Formula 1 victories since Jeddah 2021, which he won. But has not done so since.

While third on the grid is hardly a cause for massive optimism for the victory, coupled to the fact that Max Verstappen (whose 'pole-winning' lap was deleted) will be charging from behind in his Red Bull, Hamilton has a whole lot of work to do to make it happen. Even a podium will be a long shot.

Nevertheless, the seven-time F1 World Champion cherished his P3 on the grid, and said after Austin Qualifying: "I have to say a big thank you to everyone back at the factory. They have been pushing so hard to improve our car and we have taken a step closer to the front this weekend.

"I know everyone is working flat out for that and I appreciate all the efforts. Unfortunately, we weren't quite at the very front, but we will give it another shot.

"I love being in the United States! It's such a beautiful country and this circuit is just incredible. It is definitely one of my favourites. It has a legendary layout, it's bumpy, and all the drivers find it very tricky. Each section is an incredible challenge.

"I hope Saturday we can fight for P1 again. I'll be giving it my best shot and with this crowd, I think anything is possible," added Hamilton, who has never won a Sprint Race since the concept was first introduced in 2021.

However, Hamilton has won the United States GP in Texas five times (he also won the 2007 US GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course) and, as he mentioned, not only loves the venue but as stats show he is also very fast around the place.

The proof of the veteran's speed was the two-tenths gap he found in Q3 over Mercedes teammate George Russell during Qualifying on Friday.

The younger Englishman lamented the fact after Qualifying: "For me, it's been a really challenging day. I've been off the pace and I don't really know why. I've been feeling quite good with the update and can feel the improvements.

"So I'm actually pretty pleased with P5. At some points, it was looking likely that we weren't going to get to Q3. I take those positives, try and to work on it. Sprint qualifyings tend to go better than the Friday evenings, apart from Qatar.

"I will take it on my shoulders on being off the pace and struggling to understand why. Q3 was a reasonable lap. I made a bit of a mistake at Turn 1 that probably cost me one position on the grid. All in all, P5 is a great place to start on Sunday when it was looking like we would have been much further down the order," added Russell.

Ahead of the Sprint Race and GP, Hamilton is embroiled in a fight for second place in the 2023 F1 Drivers' Championship with Sergio Perez, the Red Bull driver 30 points ahead of the Mercedes star with five GP weekends to go. Russell is eighth in the standings.

Mercedes are second in the 2023 F1 Constructors' standings, 28 points ahead of Ferrari. The German team last won a race when Russell triumphed in Sao Paulo last year.