Online Reporter
Lewis Hamilton lamented his Ferrari’s lack of power and poor tyre performance on Sunday after finishing a fighting fifth, having started third, in the Austrian Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion, who had claimed his first Ferrari win two weeks earlier in Spain, slipped from second to third in the drivers’ championship behind Mercedes’ series leader Kimi Antonelli, who finished third, and race winner George Russell.
“It was a very hard race, a really tough one,” he said. “Being extremely hot and I didn’t agree with any of my tyres today! My start wasn’t really good and my getaway was poor. But I was on the attack, passed Charles (Leclerc) and felt it was not too bad on the first few laps – I was holding on for second behind George, but then the rears just dropped off. And on every set (of tyres) for some reason the balance was often very difficult.”
He said he was six-tenths of a second down on straight line speed on Friday. “We are going to have to push really hard to see when we can get the next power upgrade.”
His Ferrari teammate Leclerc finished eighth.
Hamilton, who had an exciting early on-track battle with four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who finished second, added that he was looking forward to his home British Grand Prix next weekend at Silverstone where he has won a record nine times. “I love Silverstone,” he said. “But lots of straights unfortunately. Hopefully, the car will be in a nicer place there.”
Meanwhile, Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff praised George Russell and the Mercedes engineers on Sunday after seeing the British driver grab a well-constructed victory from pole position in the Austrian Grand Prix.
He said Russell had produced a measured and ‘cold-blooded’ performance to claim his second win of the season and seventh of his career ahead of Red Bull’s revived four-time champion Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes.—SuperSport
