Lewis Hamilton has conveyed a sense of realism about the likelihood of Ferrari not being able to challenge for victory in Formula 1‘s Austrian Grand Prix, but hinted a strategy could be on the cards to try and defeat Mercedes.
Hamilton looked set for a potential pole position in Spielberg on Saturday, but after being narrowly outgunned by teammate Charles Leclerc, George Russell steamed in at the last to snatch top spot on the grid.
With Max Verstappen’s crash at Turn 9 causing confusion, Russell slowed sufficiently under a yellow flag to take P1, and still attain it by two tenths of a second from Leclerc and Hamilton.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli backed out on his final run, believing there to be double yellow flags, a mistake which cost him pole, and a slot on the front row altogether.
The Scuderia came to Austria with upgrades both in and out of the car, the latter in the shape of its ADUO-assisted new spec power unit, but from the indications of free practice, there was no sense of impovement.
But qualifying, despite its gap to the Silver Arrows, brought continuity in its status as the nearest challengers to the Brackley-based squad.
Hamilton projected this glass-half-empty narrative after qualifying, but was glad to have halved the deficit to Mercedes, and teased the notion that he and Leclerc could conspire to make the most of the situation.
“I think this weekend we’ve not been confident that we could fight for a win,” he said.
“These guys have been six tenths quicker than us most of the weekend.
“We closed the gap overnight three tenths, but we still are three tenths down today, or two-and-a-bit tenths down today, so it’s going to be very tough to challenge them tomorrow, but with a long run down to Turn 3, hopefully together we can.
“It’s great having Charles here as well, because we can hopefully work together in a strategy and try to apply pressure to them.”
Russell was allowed to keep his pole position with enough data to show he slowed enough to respect the yellow flag, as Verstappen’s RB22 nestled in the wall after losing it on his final push lap.
The Brit was confident in converting his pole into what would be just his second win of the season but used experience of what happened in Barcelona, when Hamilton jumped the two cars from a Virtual Safety Car, to exercise caution that they could be defeated once again.
“But, then you look in Barcelona, and suddenly you have another driver who’s in the fight,” he said. “OK, Lewis had the Safety Car, [and] this helped a lot.
“Without the Safety Car, Kimi and I were losing time together, and it would have given the opportunity to Ferrari to win, and that is when we need to be smart as teammates.”
It appears that both teams are going to have their drivers working together to ensure one stops the other, but who will come out on top remains to be seen.
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