Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton has “all reason to be angry” after a frustrating weekend in Austria. Hamilton suffered a damaged floor early in the race and could not match the pace of teammate George Russell.
Having passed Carlos Sainz on the first lap, Hamilton was obliged to give the position back for going off-track in order to avoid a penalty.
He ran fifth for much of the race, but the floor damage on the right-hand side – which the team believes was due to striking the kerbs at Turn 8 – compromised his pace and left him complaining about understeer.
He also picked up a five-second penalty for missing the pit entry white line when he had a snap of oversteer and lost a place to Oscar Piastri.
The collision at the front of the field between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris that handed the win to George Russell also promoted him to fourth.
After the race, Hamilton congratulated the team but downplayed the improvement in the form of the W15.
“I mean, from my side, it’s not feeling massively different,” he said. “But George, you can see he’s doing really well. He’s won a Grand Prix already. So that’s huge for everyone in the team and a huge boost for everyone.”
Regarding the damage, he said: “I’m not really quite sure. I think Turn 1 a bit of damage, and then the floor was just falling apart. I don’t know when I got the damage.”
WOLFF: HAMILTON HAD “ONE OF THOSE DAYS” IN AUSTRIA
Wolff admitted that it had been a difficult race for Hamilton.
“It was one of these bad days, I think,” said the Austrian when asked by this writer about Hamilton’s afternoon.
“A pretty decent start, and then Turn 1, lap one, giving the position back was a harsh thing. But it was pretty clear that we will be getting a 10-second penalty for not doing it.
“And it started a spiral. He pushed it very hard on the entry, you can see how much he pushed and lost the rear end, and obviously the next penalty came about.
“On top of that, we had floor damage because of the kerb ride, which I guess most people had, but his was extensive. It was two and a half tenths in parts that broke off on the on the car. So all reason to be angry about it or upset about it.”
