Lewis Hamilton admits “I don’t know why we were so slow today” after the Ferrari driver could only finish fifth in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
The seven-time World Champion entered the weekend with hopes of repeating his victory last time out in Barcelona – Hamilton’s first with Ferrari – and he lined up third behind team mate Charles Leclerc and polesitter George Russell for the 71-lap race.
Having got the better of Leclerc on the opening lap, Hamilton stayed within touching distance of Russell during the first stint but became the first driver in the leading group to make a pit stop for new tyres.
Hamilton eventually slipped behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen before moving onto a three-stop strategy after making his second stop under a Virtual Safety Car.
Having dropped to seventh, Hamilton recovered back ahead of Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris, admitting that he felt a three-stop was inevitable due to the hot temperatures and high tyre degradation.
“I don’t know why we were so slow today. We really struggled on pace, degradation was really, really high, much worse than anticipated,” said Hamilton.
“I thought it was going to be like that and I told the team, they said it was going to be a two-stop and I was like, ‘I don’t think it’s a two-stop today, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make a two-stop work’.
“Big deg in that first stint, trying to hold onto George [Russell] and then every stint, mostly we were just struggling with power.”
Despite slipping away from the podium, Hamilton has been encouraged by the general performance of Ferrari so far this season, which allowed him to win in Barcelona and claim three further podiums from the opening eight rounds of the season.
“Definitely enjoying the battling. Of course, it’s not where we want to be but this has generally been a bogie circuit for me,” said Hamilton.
“It’s one of my worst circuits probably, so to get third in Qualifying yesterday I was like, ‘that’s not so bad’, to get fifth today given Charles is usually strong here over the years, I’ll take it.”
.webp?ssl=1 "James Hinchcliffe picks his top five drivers of the 2026 Formula 1 season so far")
