Lewis Hamilton says his pre-race brake change at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix was a continuation of an ongoing drama which Mercedes has experienced this season.

Hamilton finished second at the Circuit of The Americas after being overtaken by eventual winner Max Verstappen on Lap 50 of 56, but there was drama before the contest had even got underway.

The Briton was reporting that his W13 was pulling under braking on his way to the grid, leading to a change of componentry before lights out.

He would explain post-race that a thermal imbalance which Mercedes is still trying to get on top of was the reason for the switch.

“We’ve had problems with our brakes all year,” noted Hamilton.

“Just with the separation, basically; when you hit the brake, instead of both fronts doing the same amount of work, either the left one does more or the right one does more because one gains more temperature.

“So, we had a huge temperature split, which was basically the left one wasn’t really working, so they had to change the change the brakes.

“It’s something we’ve seen a lot through the year with these new, bigger drums, and something we’re working on fixing.”

Mercedes has this year been far from the dominant force that saw it win the constructors’ championship in each of the eight preceding seasons, with Red Bull locking up that title for 2022 at COTA.

After Verstappen fell to an effective third due to a gun drama at his second pit stop, Hamilton thought he might be able to break the Brackley squad’s duck this year, but it was not to be.

“I felt amazing, it felt amazing to even just be in shooting distance of Max for some points of the race,” said the seven-time world drivers’ champion.

“We really didn’t know what our pace was going to be like today.

“I think in the first stint, he was controlling the pace and it was very, very difficult to hold on to him.

“But in that second phase of the race after the Safety Car and that, I was able to keep up with him and then we did such a great job with strategy today; we were aggressive.

“I’m really, really proud of the team. I think everyone worked so hard to bring upgrades here this weekend, and for a second I thought maybe we might just be able to hold on to it.

“But I think that extra medium tyre they had was just a little bit too strong compared to us.”

Hamilton is sixth in the drivers’ championship while Mercedes holds third in the constructors’ standings on the way to the Mexico City Grand Prix next weekend (October 28-30, local time).