Lewis Hamilton makes pledge to Ferrari fans as Brit gives update after US GP scare

Lewis Hamilton pledged "I'll keep trying" after falling one place short of scoring his first podium as a Ferrari driver. The seven-time world champion finished fourth at the Circuit of the Americas, fending off a charging Oscar Piastri on the final lap.

Meanwhile, team-mate Charles Leclerc notched his sixth top-three of the campaign, despite being overtaken by Lando Norris for second during the closing stages of the race. This was a stronger weekend overall for Ferrari, who now find themselves in the midst of a fierce Constructors' Championship battle with Mercedes and Red Bull.

Fred Vasseur's squad are only seven points behind second-placed Mercedes, who were hamstrung by an early crash involving Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz. However, Red Bull have closed to within three points of the Italian constructor after Max Verstappen notched his third win in four races.

Looking back at his Grand Prix, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: "Good result. Amazing result for the team. Third and fourth. Good points, great to finish ahead of the Mercedes team to get those points, and even ahead of the McLarens.

"So definitely a positive, and I went forward even after a bad start, so lots and lots of positives to take from here. I think naturally I want to be further up, but just got to keep working at it. But we're definitely on the right path."

Hamilton was also quizzed about Ferrari's strategy call. Leclerc was the only driver in the top 10 to start on soft compound tyres, and after getting in front of Norris, he was able to pit early, regaining track position on the Brit and stretching out a huge advantage over his team-mate

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Hamilton, meanwhile, ran long on mediums on stint one, changing over to the soft compound late on. He struggled with tyre wear and nearly lost fifth place to Piastri, dropping back by four seconds on the final lap.

"It's a difficult one," he said. "I think clearly it was the quickest strategy in the end. I lost so much time. I was kind of right with him, before Charles' stop, I was right with him, and then to come out 10 seconds behind, that definitely was far too big a deficit for me to try, and I couldn't close the gap at all.

"So a bit unfortunate in that respect. But considering we've not been upgrading the car, for us to be in the fight shows that the team has done a really, really great job this weekend, so I hope everyone back at the factory is happy. Yeah, we're definitely on the right path. I'm so close, still not got that podium, but I'll keep trying."