Lewis Hamilton revealed he survived a possible late puncture towards the end of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, managing to just hold on to fourth place.
The Ferrari driver drove a quiet but assured race, taking fourth, having started fifth on the grid, to equal his best result for the team so far.
But by missing out on the top three, Hamilton has set a new record for going longer without a podium finish than any other Ferrari driver in history.
However, it could have got a whole lot worse after he suffered a late issue with his SF-25, which would have potentially cost him points had the race been longer.
Hamilton, who had a sizeable buffer to fifth-placed Oscar Piastri, was able to hold off the Australian at the finish line, the gap standing at little over one second.
Speaking after the race, Hamilton revealed that on the final lap, a drastic issue with the car caused him to cautiously nurse the car home.
“I’m not really sure,” he told media including Motorsport Week when asked what the issue was.
“I went into Turn 5 and it felt like I hit something. And all of a sudden, I had massive understeer and I thought that I had a puncture.
“So I brake into Turn 11 and the thing wouldn’t stop and I was like, ‘Jeez, what’s going on?’
“But somehow I managed to hold it in the last couple of corners.
“I had huge understeer in the last… like, I thought the front wing was broken or something happened with the tyre. It was so close.”
Hamilton, who completed his 19th race for Ferrari at the Circuit of the Americas, overtakes Didier Pironi, who had previously held the longest podium drought for the team.
The Frenchman ended his wait with victory at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, meaning Hamilton holds this unenvied statistic amongst his compendium of far greater achievements.
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