Lewis Hamilton believes that the latest upgrade to the Mercedes was the cause of him spinning out of the United States Grand Prix after just one lap.

The seven-time world champion went off at Turn 19 on the second lap of the race, becoming embedded in the gravel and thereby bringing out the Safety Car.

Starting from 18th on the grid the Briton had a brilliant start and was up to twelfth when disaster struck.

"I wasn't even pushing at that point," said the Briton. "I was literally just trying to get going and bringing the tyres up to temperature. The car started bouncing, the left front started bouncing and the rear end just came round.

"It was the same as George yesterday," he added.

"In P1 I had the same thing," Hamilton continued, referring to Friday's sole practice session. "I had the spin in Turn 3, which is so rare. I have never spun in Turn 3 in all the years I've been here.

"I was just saying about George obviously having the same problem yesterday, he has gone back to the old-spec car and is looking good out there, so maybe there is something with the new upgrade.

"We will investigate as much as we can, and after today we will get the data and see if we are going to be on the old or the new spec next week," he concluded.

However, teammate Russell doesn't believe that it is the upgrades that are to blame.

"It was nothing really to do with the upgrades," he said. "It's pretty complicated for me to say," he cryptically added.

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