Lewis Hamilton has once more been struggling relative to Mercedes teammate George Russell at Austrian Grand Prix. Russell has had the upper hand since Hamilton announced his move to Ferrari in the winter.
The former Williams driver was the quicker of the two in Sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon. He grabbed fourth, with Hamilton two spots below in sixth.
In the Sprint itself, the two drivers jostled for position with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. Russell managed to finish ahead, while Hamilton was frustrated behind the Spaniard.
The drivers had the opportunity to change their set-ups ahead of qualifying for the main Grand Prix later on Saturday. But Hamilton still couldn’t overcome the deficit.
Russell’s eventual 1:04.840 in Q3 was just over half a tenth faster than Hamilton’s 1:04.903. They were originally fourth and sixth as they were on Friday, but that became third and fifth as Oscar Piastri saw his lap deleted for a track limits violation.
Once again, Sainz managed to split the two cars. Ferrari are trying to fend off the resurgent Silver Arrows as they face the prospect of becoming F1’s fourth-fastest team.
Lewis Hamilton will be thinking about George Russell qualifying deficit
Russell now leads Hamilton 9-2 in the qualifying head-to-head. Only Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Williams’ Alex Albon, who have whitewashed their respective teammates, can better that margin.
It matches Lando Norris’ advantage over Piastri at McLaren, but in that instance the former is far more experienced. Hamilton would be expected to have an advantage as the sport’s most successful driver.
But speaking during Q1, Sky Sports F1 commentator Harry Benjamin suggested that the 39-year-old will be feeling the pressure. He outqualified Russell for the first time since Japan in Barcelona last weekend, but has now slipped back behind.
“8-2 down in the qualifying head-to-heads is Hamilton,” Benjamin said. “It’s a stat that will play on his mind. Russell has been looking very tidy all weekend long so far.”
What Hamilton did after Russell outpaced him in Austria
Hamilton doesn’t seem to fully understand why he’s lagging behind Russell so often. The gap between the two is rarely large, but it’s enabled the 26-year-old to finish ahead at seven of the 10 events so far.
There have previously been suggestions that issues with the tyre blankets were to blame, or that Hamilton’s preparations on the outlap are sub-optimal. It could also be the case, of course, that Russell is simply able to extract more from the car.
During Sprint qualifying on Friday, Ted Kravitz noticed Hamilton assessing Russell’s data as he tried to work out where he was losing time. This is routine practice for F1 drivers, but not something he’ll have been particularly used to during his storied career.
Some may feel that his focus has naturally shifted, at least in part, towards his new team. Hamilton apparently called former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel to ask about his prospective race engineer, which may strengthen that school of thought.
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