Lewis Hamilton reiterated his thanks to his mechanics and engineers for the rebuild they were forced to do after his Friday Qualifying crash at the Red Bull Ring, but despite a rough start to the weekend, he was able to claim a third consecutive podium finish on Sunday.
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver crashed at turn seven on Friday and could only finish eighth in Saturday’s Sprint race, but he stayed out on trouble and capitalised on other people’s misfortunes to claim third place behind Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen on Sunday.
Hamilton admitted it was quite a lonely race for him in Austria, but from where the weekend began, he was pleased to stand on the podium again and continue their recent positive momentum.
“First, I want to say a big thank you to the women and men in the garage who worked so hard to rebuild the car,” said Hamilton. “I needed a brand-new car on Saturday morning, unfortunately.
“That’s something I don’t do often, but I’m just thankful for how hard everybody worked. It was tough in the Sprint yesterday, but today felt better. We had decent pace at different points of the race, even if I was racing a little bit in no-man’s land.
“It’s been a bit of a rough weekend for the team – but I’m grateful we got third and fourth today. That’s great points, and we have improved the car. Now we need to keep chipping away to get back to the front.”
“I’m a little disappointed at how everything unfolded” – George Russell
Team-mate George Russell started and finished fourth on Sunday, but that does not show all of what happened to the Briton after suffering damage early on after contact with Sergio Pérez.
Russell was attempting to defend fourth place from the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver heading into turn four on the opening lap, but the two drivers made contact, with Pérez spinning into the gravel trap. The collision between the two broke part of Russell’s front wing and earned him a five-second time penalty from the stewards.
Despite falling to seventeenth after a pit stop for repairs and his penalty, Russell drove strongly thereafter and was able to claw his way back up to fourth. But he does not believe the contact with Pérez warranted a penalty in the first place, and he thinks he should have been on the podium but for the incident.
“I started P4 and finished P4 – and probably would have taken that before the race,” said Russell. “But I’m a little disappointed at how everything unfolded.
“On lap one, Checo dived down the outside at Turn Four, then took a tight line. I had Sainz ahead and had to get up on the apex kerb. I thought the penalty was harsh – for me it was a racing incident.
“But after that, we optimised the race well from lap two. Looking at the positives: we had a 20 second pit stop at the start – and finished around 15 seconds behind the podium; I came back through the field from P19 to P4; and we maximised as a team.
“Now we need to get our heads down and keep pushing.”
George Russell finished fourth on Sunday despite a penalty – Credit: Steve Etherington