Martin Brundle dismissed Lewis Hamilton’s claim that he would have ‘breezed the race’ if he started further up the grid in the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion started from 10th on the grid after making errors on both of his flying laps in Q3.
Hamilton stormed his way through the order setting the timing sheets a light as he applied the pressure, late on in the race, to George Russell.
Russell held on for the win and his second victory this season as Hamilton had to settle for second place.
After the race, the 39-year-old expressed how if he had qualified higher in Qualifying the GP would have been a “breeze today”.
However, Brundle reckons his Mercedes team-mate Russell had enough pace to cover off any threat from Hamilton.
“Hamilton in the sister Mercedes had looked equally fast, albeit with a few trips up the escape road here and there,” Brundle said in his Sky Sports F1 column.
“Sadly for him, he had two poor laps in final qualifying when the back end stepped out and he would start a lowly 10th.
“He said post-race that had he started at the front he would have breezed the race, which surprised Russell a little.
“There’s no doubt Russell had more pace if he’d needed it.”
Brundle praises Mercedes duo
Before the race weekend, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that “everyone has a shelf-life” which he soon cleared up that it was not a reference to his own driver Hamilton.
Going into the Las Vegas, Hamilton admitted he considered quitting early after a horrendous race weekend in Brazil.
But he turned up and in typical Hamilton fashion, he displayed a vintage performance to take his fifth podium of the year.
Despite disagreeing with the British driver’s verdict that he could have won the race, Brundle praised the performance of the Mercedes driver.
He added: “However, it was a standout drive from Lewis, picking his way through serious contenders up into second place and finishing just seven seconds behind at the flag.
“The fans rightly voted him driver of the day, and he answered some questions a few have been throwing at him lately about being over the hill.”
The 65-year-old also applauded the performance of Russell, as he felt his efforts went unnoticed at the Las Vegas GP after Max Verstappen was crowned World Champion.
“In all the championship noise you must feel sorry for George Russell, who qualified impressively on pole position and simply dominated the race,” he said.
“He was so far out front for most of the 50 laps we hardly saw him given the battles raging behind.
“It was an assured performance from George who is looking very much the real deal in terms of leading that team into the future.”
READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton: F1 Las Vegas GP ‘would have been a breeze’ without qualifying blunder
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