Mercedes appeared to have reduced the distance to Red Bull and Ferrari over the course of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend
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Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, which started ninth on the grid, had faster speed than he was able to display in Saturday’s F1 Sprint, enabling him to work his way through the field into fourth, which became third when Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz withdrew due to engine failure. Hamilton was overjoyed to finish third for the third race in a row at the Austrian Grand Prix. He views this accomplishment as a little gesture of gratitude to Mercedes for working so diligently to restore his vehicle following an unusual incident in qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton expressed his joy after finishing third and ending up on the podium at the Austrian Grand Prix. “I really feel great; I’m so happy with today, especially after such a difficult start to the weekend,” said the seven-time world champion, who finished one place ahead of teammate George Russell. “We were looking so good in qualifying and then I crashed, and it was about getting your head around that.
The 37 year old Briton expressed that he understands that the squad has worked very hard for him to race at the Red Bull Ring. “The team worked so hard to build a new car for me. Naturally that affects everything, it affects our budget, that affects so many people who have to build new parts so that’s never a good feeling so to get up there and get some good points for the team is hopefully a small token of my appreciation. I’m really happy to get third and fourth.”
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Mercedes appeared to have reduced the distance to Red Bull and Ferrari over the course of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, but it wasn’t enough to put them in contention for the win. “I don’t know why they were so quick here,” said Hamilton, who is the only driver to have reached the chequered flag at every race so far this year. “We’ll just keep pushing. We’re not too bad, some of our laps were comparable so we’re slowly getting there. We just need to keep chipping away.”
Hamilton finished third on Sunday, making it the only time in 11 trips to the Red Bull Ring that he has finished outside the top five. He now has 100 points, is sixth in the drivers’ standings, and is 99 points behind leader Max Verstappen.
