World Champion Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull will be “really hard to beat” at this weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, pointing to the team’s advantage on the straights.
Red Bull arrives at its home event off the back of three successive victories and heads Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship by 37 points.
Max Verstappen, who holds a 12-point advantage over Hamilton, fronted both practice sessions on Friday at the Red Bull Ring.
Hamilton finished the day in fourth place though had a faster lap than Verstappen’s session-topping time deleted after exceeding track limits through the final corner.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Hamilton, adding “We’re a little bit down particularly over a single lap.
“But generally over a day the car felt relatively solid, some weaknesses, but as I said coming into the weekend [we are] losing on the straight, a considerable amount, so we’ve just got to keep working to rectify that.
“I think it’s very close with the whole pack. The Red Bulls definitely will be really hard to beat. I think they’ve just got the edge, maybe more, we don’t know what they’re going to do when they turn that engine up.
“I didn’t have too many big problems today, I’m happier with where we’ve got the car to, I was working flat out all week trying to understand where I wanted to put the car and I’m hopeful that the hard work starts paying off soon.”
Hamilton emphasised that he will “do everything I can during the evening to make the right steps in the right direction.
“It’s close [across one lap], but particularly in the race pace they were really really strong, and they’re throwing some really good punches right now so we’ve just got to have our guards up and make sure we’re ready for the return.”
