For Lewis Hamilton, his Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying ended in confusing circumstances with Q1 elimination, as he prepares to start the race from last on the grid.

Hamilton had made it to the line by the skin of his teeth to start a final push lap, but did not embark on one, having seen red lights to signal the end of the session. However, analysis from Sky F1’s Anthony Davidson suggested that the light was still green when Hamilton hit the timing line, as he theorised that Hamilton may have based his decision to lift off on the wrong line.

Did Lewis Hamilton observe the wrong line in Las Vegas?

The seven-time world champion did not believe so. When he spoke with Sky F1 after his Q1 elimination, Hamilton insisted that the lights were red when he crossed the line, indicating session over, so he did not set off on another lap.

“I got yellow flags in the last corner, and coming into [Turn] 17 there were yellow flags,” Hamilton explained.

“So I had to lift, and when I came to the line, it was red, so that was that.”

Hamilton had queried over team radio whether he was safely into Q2 after crossing the lines, but was told by race engineer Riccardo Adami no, so keep pushing. At that point, it was of course too late, as Hamilton had already backed off.

Footage of the situation was analysed by former Minardi, BAR-Honda and Super Aguri driver Davidson. He determined that Hamilton was in the clear to go for one more push lap, and that the seven-time world champion had perhaps been confused over the chequered timing line, and the start line which follows.

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“I’ve got that teed up here, Lewis’s start to what, I believe, should have been his last timed lap,” Davidson began.

“A soon as I press play, you’ll hear him recovering from that previous yellow flag, as he re-accelerates through Turn 17, and what’s going to happen is he gets to the chequered line, that’s the timing line, and remember that, because that’s the important part.

“The green lights are still there. So that’s what he’s saying. So he’s seen red lights, but if I just roll it back, he was carrying speed at this part, up to this chequered line. And when he gets to the timing line, 100 per cent, it’s good to go. It’s good to send it and do another lap. But as he passes that line, it immediately goes red.

“So very hard to judge, obviously, at the speeds you’re doing inside the car. But he did cross the line to open up a new lap before the red lights came on. And I wonder if he’s looking at this line, the start line, instead of the finish line.

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“So two different lines here at this track, like we have at many circuits, but the finish line is the timing line.

“And to prove that, we have the world feed here of [Isack] Hadjar, for example, coming up to that very line, and as he does that, he’s about to finish Sector 3, and as he crosses that line, there comes the purple Sector 3, so that is the timing line, and that means that Lewis was good to go when he crossed that chequered line.

“I’m not sure he would have had the speed anyway to get through, but it was clearly very close from inside the car for Lewis to judge whether it was good to send it again on another lap. I feel personally like he missed a valid push lap there.”

With Hamilton P20 and last on the grid, his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc launches from P9, as the Scuderia looks to remain in the Constructors’ Championship P2 fight. Mercedes holds that spot going into the race, 36 points ahead of Ferrari in fourth, with Red Bull nestled between the pair.

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