Ferrari disappointment at the Red Bull Ring: warning from Lewis Hamilton

Before the start of the race at the Red Bull Ring, Lewis Hamilton was still hoping to repeat his triumph in Barcelona, as he was starting from third on the grid. The seven-time world champion admitted that it would be difficult to compete with the pace of the Mercedes cars. Nevertheless, he thought that, with the help of his team-mate Charles Leclerc – who was starting directly ahead of him – he could at least put pressure on the pole-sitter.

But things turned out quite differently in the race, and after 71 laps Hamilton had to settle for fifth place. He crossed the finish line more than 26 seconds behind his former Mercedes team-mate. Afterwards, he said dejectedly: “The car clearly didn’t really work on any set of tyres today. It was a very, very tough race. It was extremely hot.”

“To be honest, my start wasn’t really good either; I didn’t get off to a good start. But after that I was able to attack and overtake Charles Leclerc. And I thought things weren’t looking too bad, as I was initially able to keep up with George. But then the rear tyres gave out; for some reason, the balance was very difficult,” explained the 41-year-old.

“On Friday, we were about six-tenths off the pace on the straights alone, and I still need to see how it went today, but I’m convinced that our pace deficit was significant,” added the 106-time Grand Prix winner, sighing: “We simply couldn’t keep up with the other drivers in terms of grip.”

In a slightly more conciliatory tone, Hamilton added: “I’m glad to have picked up the points I could. The team did a brilliant job with the strategy, and the tyre changes went very smoothly too. I’m very proud of the crew because they’ve worked so hard on this. It wasn’t the result we’d hoped for, but at least we’ve picked up some points.”

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Looking ahead to the next races, the record-holding Grand Prix winner urged everyone to be patient. He knows: “We’ll have to really step on the gas to get the next power upgrade sorted. But that’ll take a while. I hope the car will perform a bit better at Silverstone.”