With the Austrian Grand Prix sprint shootout, Lewis Hamilton made his frustrations clear.
At the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday, Lewis Hamilton finished sixth in the sprint shootout and was left to lament what he called his “very bad laps.”
Mercedes appeared to have continued their winning streak from Barcelona into the Spielberg race this past weekend, displaying remarkable speed on the hard compound tire. But this did not translate into a performance in the sprint shootout.
Hamilton had a disorganized session personally. At the beginning of the session, the renowned British racer ran off the track, which made him run behind his competitors in order to eventually punch in the sixth-fastest time in SQ3.
“I wasn’t in the mix at all, the whole session was pretty disastrous from our point of view,” he said, reflecting on his sprint shootout experience. We had very bad laps, but practice went well and the car felt good. I don’t think we had the pace to be on pole.
Although I don’t think we’ll overtake this time, we’ll try our hardest. Since the race is typically not that exciting, I believe the main emphasis will be on improving tomorrow’s qualifying.
A P6 starting grid slot had Hamilton miffed, but his teammate was marginally happier. Only Max Verstappen and the two McLaren vehicles were ahead of George Russell at the end of the sprint shootout in position P4.
I felt really strong during my SQ3 lap,” Russell reported on Friday. “I think I over-egged it on my out lap, which took too much life out of the tires and likely removed the peak grip from it. I was probably surprised by the gap.”
I have no other explanation because that felt like the strongest lap of the session. It was a significant regression. P4 remains an excellent location for tomorrow’s fight. In the Sprint, I’m definitely going for the podium.
“Clearly, the most crucial thing is to keep your eyes on the main race. But once more, confirmation that we are currently involved. probably a little bit ahead of Ferrari right now, but McLaren is still just slightly ahead, and it’s good to be in the lead a little more frequently.”
