Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton was left ruing his setup choices at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday after missing out on the podium at the US Grand Prix.

Between Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc, Ferrari topped the timesheets in all three practice sessions at COTA this weekend, but failed to impress in qualifying on Saturday.

As a result, Hamilton lined up P5 for Sunday's grand prix start, with Leclerc one step ahead of him in P4.

Hamilton's team-mate was able to go on and put things right in the race, finishing P2 after a strong drive on the two-stop strategy, but Hamilton was unable to join him on the podium.

The seven-time world champion found great pace in the latter stages of the race, but Max Verstappen in P3 proved a step too far. Hamilton was only just over a second off the Dutchman come the black and white chequered flag, though, and might even have passed him had it not been for a virtual safety car between laps 51 and 53.

Lewis Hamilton reveals Ferrari regret at COTA

Post-race, Hamilton explained that he felt he had found a good balance on the setup of his SF26 as the laps went on in Austin, but felt like he had wasted a lot of time having opted for the wrong setup at the start.

It was this error that Hamilton felt cost him a podium spot in Texas, not the VSC.

"The VSC wasn't ideal, but I think I felt like the race was really lost from the first two stints," he explained in the media pen. "I lost so much time with just not being... I couldn't turn the car in the low speed, particularly so turn one, turn 11, turn 12, 13, 14, 15, just massive understeer, and so the cars were just going away as I was adjusting my settings.

"By the time we got to the last stint, I think we got closer to the balance, but we should have started with that balance in the beginning. So there's lots of learning. The team did a great job with his stops and strategy."

Hamilton feels that he has dropped a lot of points over the last five races, and says it has been similar issues that have been consistently costing him.

"I think I've lost a lot of points in the last like five races or so, and I think it's really come from from setup, just not perfecting the setup, and that's something I've really got to get on top of," he added.

"I think that's really where I've lost out. I think performance-wise, I feel like I've been driving well. I think today I felt like particularly the last stint was really good.

"The first two stints, I just couldn't do anything about that. But definitely lots to learn, lots to take away from it."

Hamilton on Ferrari upgrades

Ferrari also introduced a series of aerodynamic upgrades to their car at the US Grand Prix, and based on Sunday's pace, they seemed to work.

Hamilton was certainly grateful for them and hopes that next time out in Mexico, he can get the setup right so that he can put them to even better use.

"I think the team did a great job to bring an upgrade. Charles obviously got a second place, so we've got good performance," Hamilton concluded.

"Hopefully, when we go to Mexico, we can improve on some of the where we've gone wrong, basically on that setup."