Lewis Hamilton’s tricky season continued as he finished P4 in the Austrian Grand Prix last Sunday.
The Brit looked a shade behind teammate George Russell from Sprint qualifying onwards, and floor damage in the Grand Prix itself harmed his chances of getting on the podium.
The 39-year-old passed Sainz off track at turn 1 and was forced to give the place back once he was done battling with Russell. Hamilton passed up to turn 3 on lap 3, but he lost out on the run to turn 4.
From there, he slowly dropped away from the leading quartet, and the seven-time World Champion was passed by Oscar Piastri just before the second round of stops.
At his second stop, he had to serve a 5-second penalty for crossing the white line on pit entry as he drifted wide.
The incident between Norris and Verstappen allowed him to gain two spots, finishing P4 at the end of the 71-lap contest.
Hamilton congratulated his teammate George Russell on the victory.
“Yeah, big, big congratulations to George and the team. This is an amazing result.
“Yeah, we got good points. That’s the most important thing.”
Hamilton was asked to explain the damage he picked up and when it happened. He ran over the big yellow sausage kerb at turn one on the opening lap fighting Sainz.
“I’m not really quite sure. I think turn one, a bit of damage and then the floor was just falling apart. I don’t know when I got the damage.”
Mercedes has made genuine progress since Monaco in particular. However, in general, they are still missing a couple of tenths compared to Norris and Verstappen to fight for victories on merit.
Hamilton seemed a little bit dispirited afterwards, feeling not much has changed on his side.
“I mean, from my side, it’s not feeling massively different.
“But George, you could see, is doing really well. He’s won a Grand Prix already. That’s huge for everyone in the team and a huge boost for everyone.”
Speaking in his post-race written media session, Toto Wolff explained the extent of the damage. He also understood why Hamilton felt frustrated with how things played out.
“Yeah, it was one of these bad days.
“I think, pretty decent start, and then turn one, lap one, giving the position back was a harsh thing, but it was pretty clear that we would be getting a 10-second penalty if we did not do it.
“And then it started to spiral.
“He pushed it very hard on the entry, you can see how much he pushed and lost the rear, and then obviously the next penalty came about.
“On top of that, we had floor damage because of the kerb ride, which I guess most people have, but his was extensive, it was two and a half tenths in parts that broke off on the kerb.
“So, yeah, all reason to be angry about it, or upset about it.”
Hamilton is P8 in the Drivers’ Championship heading into the British Grand Prix, 26 points behind Russell.
