Hamilton only ‘two, three tenths down’ on Ferrari in Austria

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has backed up Toto Wolff’s assessment that Mercedes need to find just “two or three tenths” of race pace.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished third and fourth respectively in the Austrian Grand Prix last time out, with the seven-time former World Champion crossing the line 41 seconds behind winner Charles Leclerc.

For Hamilton in particular, that represented a fine result considering he had crashed in the last part of qualifying and started the grand prix eighth on the grid having improved only one position during the previous day’s sprint.

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Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said the W13, which has been struggling compared to Red Bull and Ferrari all season, was “not quick enough to really challenge for the front yet”.

Although Hamilton and Russell have stepped onto the podium seven times between them this term, every time it was a result of having finished third.

Elliott, in Mercedes’ post-race debrief, believes the team are making progress with the various updates they are adding to the W13, but still have a little way to go before properly getting themselves back in the hunt for wins.

Friday:

Sunday:

There's never a dull weekend in formula 1! pic.twitter.com/NADArQq1gS

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 15, 2022

“In the race on Sunday, Lewis was able to get through the slower cars that were in front of him, getting himself up into a position where he only had the Red Bulls and the Ferraris ahead,” explained Elliott.

“Whil