Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin blamed a “gust of wind” for Lewis Hamilton‘s disappointing Q3 in Miami.

The Brit had been second quickest in Q2, but soon slumped to ninth to ensure a lowly start to the Grand Prix, though the reason has since been revealed.

“We were pretty pleased with the lap time he did in Q2 and hoping to repeat that in Q3,” Shovlin explained.

“It wasn’t really an issue with the grip initially, and the start of the lap was actually quite good. He was unlucky in that as he came around to turn 11, he got a gust of wind that was from behind.

“What that does is actually drops the amount of downforce on the car quite significantly. So as he went into that corner had quite a big oversteer. That then puts temperature [heat] in the tyres.

“Once that temperature’s in, that’s a very tight, twisty section, there’s no way for them to cool down and that’s what then causes the loss of grip. So had it not been for the gust of wind, it would have been a better lap for sure.”