Lewis Hamilton Exposes Car Issue That Slowed Him down at Austrian GP

Lewis Hamilton pointed out the one car issue which potentially took away his chances of a podium at the Red Bull Ring.

Lewis Hamilton Exposes Car Issue That Slowed Him down at Austrian GP

Lewis Hamilton (via Planetf1)

Lewis Hamilton had a decent outing at the Austrian GP. After a string of poor results, the seven-time world champion managed to finish fourth at the Red Bull Ring. However, Hamilton pointed out one issue that potentially took away his chance of making it to the podium on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver qualified on the second row for the race, behind Oscar Piastri in third place. Lewis Hamilton managed to avoid any trouble during the race start and stayed in P4. The British driver spent the entirety of his race in fourth place, without any real chance of making progress.

Hamilton claimed that he was right behind Charles Leclerc in the early stages of the race, with the two Ferraris putting similar lap times. However, the seven-time world champion started struggling with the car balance, blaming it on issues with the brakes. This cost the 40-year-old crucial time as he slowly fell behind Leclerc.

I was able to hold on [to Charles] for a second but then I was struggling with the balance. We had brake issues. I had to manage these brakes really early on which was definitely losing us some time.

Lewis Hamilton said post-race

The seven-time world champion asserted that he wants the Scuderia to fix this problem as soon as possible. Lewis Hamilton cited that the brake issues only amplified his struggles during the race, as the car balance was also far from optimal.

That’s something I am really pushing to get fixed because it’s not great. And then, just with balance, I was struggling with the balance.

Lewis Hamilton added

Lewis Hamilton outlines positives for Ferrari from Austrian GP

Scuderia Ferrari has been close to the front of the pack this season. Yet, Maranello has failed to put up a fight for race victories this year. The only good result for the Italian team came at the Chinese GP when Lewis Hamilton managed to win the sprint race. Nevertheless, Hamilton reckoned that the Austrian GP was a good weekend for the Scuderia.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (via Getty)
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (via Getty)

While Hamilton finished fourth, Charles Leclerc managed to clinch a podium finish, bringing some vital points for Ferrari. The seven-time world champion reckoned that the result was indeed quite positive for the team with some good takeaways from the weekend. Though, Hamilton pointed out that there were still areas to improve, particularly one-lap pace. He even revealed that a car issue on Saturday had impacted his Qualifying run.

Third and fourth is a real positive. There’s lots of good things to take from the weekend. There’s lots of areas to focus on. I think qualifying was better. We found a problem that I had through my last qualifying lap which cost me a tenth due to some issue on the car. That’s again a positive but I would have gone backwards if I started second anyways.

Lewis Hamilton explained

Certainly, Ferrari seems to be making progress. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are getting better accustomed to the car. But issues remain a big problem. Hamilton faced multiple issues over the course of a single weekend, something which is not acceptable in Formula 1. While the Italian team might be on the right track, there is still a long way to go before they can get back to winning ways.

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