LEWIS HAMILTON SUFFERS AUSTRIAN GP "DISASTER" AS TOTO WOLFF ADMITS BLOW
Lewis Hamilton bemoaned a "disastrous" session which saw him qualify two places behind team-mate George Russell for today's Sprint.
Mercedes are on the up and had a driver on the podium at each of the last two races. They want to make it a hat-trick of top three finishes in Spielberg this weekend but first have a Sprint race to negotiate.
Hamilton will start that short-form race from sixth place and cut a frustrated figure as he reflected on a messy qualifying. He said: "I wasn't in the mix at all, our whole session was pretty disastrous from our side.
"What can I say? Practice was good and the car generally felt good, but I don't think we had the pace to get pole. But, yeah, very bad laps, every single one of them." The seven-time F1 champion wrote off his chances of a significant points haul from the Sprint and is instead eyeing a better starting slot for tomorrow's main event.
He added: "I don't think overtaking is mega here, but we'll do our best. It's usually not such an eventful race, so I think the focus will be mostly on getting a better qualifying tomorrow."
Russell was much happier with how his day went and is more confident that he can make progress, having gone slower only than pole-sitter Max Verstappen and the two McLaren drivers. And the Briton thinks his result is yet more evidence that Mercedes are capable of competing with the top teams again.
Russell said: "P4 is still a great place to be for tomorrow. We're definitely fighting for the podium in the Sprint. Obviously, eyes are on the main race as that's the most important, but it's validation again that we're in this mix now, probably ahead of Ferrari at the moment. McLaren still seem to be a small smidge ahead, but it's nice to be at the front end."
Boss Toto Wolff was slightly disappointed with the team's results and admitted: "We thought we could play for pole but Verstappen was just much too quick." McLaren have been the main rivals to Red Bull in recent weeks and will have both their cars in Verstappen's rear view mirrors at the start of the Sprint.
Lando Norris joins the Dutchman on the front row and, though he seemed slightly disappointed, declared himself in a "good position" to fight for victory. And team-mate Oscar Piastri thinks he too is in the fight for the Sprint win after bouncing back from a disappointing race in Spain a week ago.
The Aussie said: "After a bit of a rough one last weekend, it feels like we're back on the pace. The gap to Max is not massive and I know there were a couple of big mistakes on that lap, so we're definitely in the mix." Charles Leclerc had to settle for 10th on the Sprint grid after suffering an issue in the pit lane which meant he did not reach the start line in time to record a lap in SQ3.
2024-06-28T16:39:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd