Lewis Hamilton was much more positive about Ferrari’s execution during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix, describing his team’s operations as ‘ world-class’. The seven-time world champion will start fourth on the grid at the Red Bull Ring behind the two McLaren drivers and team-mate Charles Leclerc. Hamilton’s weekend in Austria got off to a rocky start.
The 40-year-old’s FP1 was interrupted by a gearbox issue, and he struggled to extract pace from the SF-25 later on Friday, but Saturday was a much more positive day for the Brit, who scored his best starting position as a Ferrari driver. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 about the result, Hamilton was upbeat. “It’s a fantastic result,” he said. “The team have worked really hard at the factory to bring us a new floor this weekend, and considering yesterday we were a lot further off – I think we were six to nine tenths off – for us to be much closer and to be on the second row, I think that’s really fantastic.
“And for Charles, obviously, he’s on the front row… and I think ultimately, my last lap wasn’t perfect. I think if I had finished it, I would have been second. So there’s lots of positives to take out from that session. Also, I think it was the best day operationally, and I would say particularly through qualifying.
“How the team operated – just timings, the information we’re getting in terms of traffic and positioning on track I think was really the best. [It was] proper world-class, so that’s what we’ve been working towards.”
While second and fourth on the grid represent a major step forward for the Scuderia, team principal Fred Vasseur will no doubt be a little concerned about the margin to pole-sitter Lando Norris. The Brit was over half-a-second faster than any other driver, despite this being the shortest lap of the season.
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