Lewis Hamilton bemoaned some ‘very bad laps’ from himself on Friday as he ended up sixth in sprint qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Mercedes have managed to close the gap to their rivals in recent weeks with Hamilton picking up his first podium of the season last week in Spain.
They still have some catching up to do in order to challenge Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
But they headed into the Austrian Grand Prix with optimism and another chance to get significant points on the board.
Lewis Hamilton was disappointed with his sprint qualifying
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Mercedes were quick early in FP1 on Friday, but they were unable to carry that over into sprint qualifying.
Hamilton ended up over half a second slower than Max Verstappen in pole and will start Saturday’s sprint in sixth.
The seven-time world champion cut a frustrated figure afterwards as he felt unable to do much more.
“I wasn’t in the mix at all, the whole session was pretty disastrous from our point,” Hamilton moaned
.”Practice was good, the car felt good, I don’t think we had the pace to be on pole, but very bad laps.
“I don’t think overtaking is mega here, but we’ll give our best.
“It’s usually not such an eventful race, so I think the focus will be mostly on getting a better qualifying tomorrow.”
Hamilton’s woes paled in comparison to Charles Leclerc, who failed to clock a lap due to a problem with his car at the pit exit.
The Monegasque driver was stationary in the pit lane as the cars lined up to get out on track for a late shootout for pole.
He managed to get his car back up and running, but there was not enough time for Leclerc to put in a lap.
“I don’t know what happened,” Leclerc said.
Lewis Hamilton will start the sprint race in sixth
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“I was in the pitlane and then the anti-stall switched off.
“The team told me we would speak when I am back in the garage, but I came straight here and so I don’t know.”
Despite Hamilton’s frustrations in sprint qualifying, Toto Wolff is confident that Mercedes are on the right track and could even fight for pole in qualifying on Saturday.
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Charles Leclerc also had a difficult session
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“I think that Sprint is difficult to judge, but when you look at the pecking order in qualifying that’s probably what it is also the race,” Wolff said.
“I think we are we are continuously developing the car and learning, and qualifying is a different game.
“Maybe we can be closer to Verstappen tomorrow, maybe a front row would be a great result, but everything to play [for].”
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