Lewis Hamilton calls for upgrades after Styrian GP, Mercedes unlikely to heed call

The Styrian Grand Prix was a disappointing race for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion might have finished second but was a good distance behind race winner Max Verstappen. Mercedes might have taken two podiums at the Red Bull Ring but were well off the pace set by Verstappen. Therefore, it should come as little surprise that the British driver wants upgrades to the car.

“Naturally they are just faster than us. There’s not a lot I can do in that respect. I’ve just got to keep trying to do the best job I can each weekend,” Hamilton said after the race.

“We really need to find some performance. We need an upgrade of some sort, we need to push. I don’t whether it’s just the rear wing, or it’s the upgrade in the engine, or whatever it may be.

“But we’ve got to find some performance from somewhere.”

However, Hamilton admitted that any upgrades seemed unlikely.

“Naturally I would love to have upgrades and improvements but I don’t think that’s currently on the cards,” he added. “When we do a debrief we’ll chat about it but that’s how it is at the moment.

“We’re the world champions and we can definitely improve if we put our minds to it. But if we’re not going to develop and improve our car for the rest of the year, this is the result you are going to see.”

Hamilton estimated that Verstappen was lapping at least up to 0.2 seconds faster than him, something largely down to the Red Bull’s having better straight line speed.

That the defending world champion drove the car to the absolute limit was clear. Yet, on the rare occasions he did push, Verstappen held him off with consummate ease.

Toto Wolff rules out upgrades

Despite the drubbing at Austria, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff ruled out making any upgrades on the car. Wolff, who’s overseen Mercedes’ run of dominance since 2014, believes working on the new car for 2022 is more important.

This is, of course, because of the new regulation changes that will see a whole new type of car race on the tracks. It also will lead to constraints on spending.

It is worth noting that the last time regulation changes of this scale took place was in 2014, when the V6 turbo-hybrid engine era began. Mercedes have won every single driver’s and constructor’s championship in that era.

Thus, as the time comes to build for the future, Wolff is more focused on the long term.

“We have stopped developing for this year because we believe the next years are so important to get right,” said the Austrian.

“We are having new regulations not only for next year but for years to come, a completely different car concept, and you’ve got to choose the right balance,” Wolff told reporters.

“It would make no sense to put a week or two or a month back on the current car, because the gains wouldn’t be anywhere near the gains we are making on the 2022 car.”

“Having said that, this is far from over. We will be winning races this season, and we will be having pole positions, and we will be fighting as much as we can for every single result.”

Where does Lewis Hamilton stand as of now?

Lewis Hamilton is currently second in the world driver’s championship standing. He has won three races so far this season – a close encounter in Bahrain, a comfortable win in Portugal and a tactical masterclass in Spain.

However, title rival Verstappen has now won four races – he took the win at Imola, Monaco, France and now Austria.

Given the next race of the season is also at the Red Bull Ring, Hamilton and Mercedes have every reason to fear the worst. However, it will be interesting to see if they do indeed decide to bring upgrades.

After Austria, the sport heads to England for the British GP – Hamilton’s home race that will see a full capacity crowd. They will then head to Hungary before taking a mid-season break for 28 days.

As things stand, Hamilton is 18 points behind Verstappen in the race for the championship. That’s not an insurmountable gap but it will be if Mercedes can’t find some pace.