Lewis Hamilton warns Charles Leclerc as Ferrari learn their Austrian GP fate
Ferrari brought a floor upgrade to the Austrian Grand Prix which Lewis Hamilton wasn't sure would work, but qualifying in Spielberg suggested the Italians have found more pace
Lewis Hamilton was delighted with "a fantastic result" as Ferrari's latest upgrades worked a treat in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. Team-mate Charles Leclerc was only beaten by pole-sitter Lando Norris while Hamilton also starred to make it two Ferraris in the top four.
It was the 40-year-old's best Grand Prix qualifying result of the year so far and a performance he was delighted with, even if he felt there was more on the table. Hamilton smiled: It's a fantastic result. The team have worked hard to bring us a new floor this weekend.
"Considering yesterday [in practice] we were a lot further off, six or nine tenths off, it's nice to be much closer and on the second row, which is really fantastic. My last lap wasn't perfect and I think I could have been second, so there's lots of positives to take out of that.
"We continue to pull together to protect each other and block out all the noise. It's an incredible team and we're working to put all the pieces of the puzzle in the right place. I'm really really happy with the progress we're making."
He was less than one tenth of a second slower than Leclerc and the seven-time F1 champion thinks he's starting to level the playing field. He said: "I'm edging closer in terms of performance of Charles, who's really, really used to the car. He hardly ever changes anything, so that's really positive.
"Also, I had more time in the lap. I was nearly three tenths up going into turn six and I had a massive snap going in, and then I came across the line six tenths down. So that would have put me second."
But Hamilton refused to say whether he felt he could convert it into a maiden Ferrari podium, having targeted that before this season only to suffer on race day. He smirked: "Every race I've been saying I can't wait to get that first podium, so I'm not going to say that today! I'll just stay quiet and try to do a better job tomorrow."
Like Hamilton, Leclerc has been critical of Ferrari's car this season but seemed much happier with the upgrades introduced this weekend. He said: "Monaco was the last time we started on the front row and it's been a difficult season overall, but the team have kept pushing and we brought some new parts this weekend which for sure made a difference.
"If you look at the gaps, everybody is super close so it's a big thanks to the team. I'm happy with the lap and we know that we normally have a better car during the race than in qualifying so, hopefully, we can put a bit more pressure on the McLarens."
"The upgrades definitely helped us today. How much is difficult to know but, when you see how fine the margins were – apart from Lando – it definitely helped us to get to the front row. We did a great job and have worked very well this weekend. I'll do everything I can to make the McLarens' lives as tough as possible."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ferrari boss Vasseur hands over to D'Ambrosio for Austrian GP
SPIELBERG, Austria, June 29 (Reuters) - Ferrari Formula One boss Fred Vasseur has left the Austrian Grand Prix to return home for personal reasons with deputy Jerome d'Ambrosio taking over for Sunday's race at Spielberg, the team said. Ferrari had Charles Leclerc set to start on the front row alongside McLaren's pole-sitter Lando Norris and seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton fourth on the grid. The Italian team have yet to win this season and Frenchman Vasseur has come under increasing pressure with speculation about his future. Belgian D'Ambrosio is a former racer who joined Ferrari from Mercedes and has been deputy principal since last October. Before that he was also a team boss with Venturi in the all-electric Formula E series.
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Sky F1's Bernie Collins lifts lid on McLaren and Aston Martin pressure cooker
Exclusive: One of the newest faces to the Sky Sports F1 punditry team, Bernie Collins brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience as an engineer and strategist for McLaren and Aston Martin If you've ever overprepared for something, be it school exams, a job interview or a big family trip, chances are you still haven't experienced anything like what Formula 1 strategists go through on a weekly basis. Bernie Collins knows the score, having worked as head of strategy at the Aston Martin F1 team. For more than 20 races every year, she and her colleagues would get themselves as clued-up as possible about what every race weekend might hold, to the point that the vast majority of that work would go to waste. "I would say 90 percent of the prep that we've done was never used," said Collins. "Because it is all these edge cases that may not be useful for that race. But that leads to everyone feeling much more prepared, meaning that when you do have something a little bit off the wall, everyone's ready for it – or at least there's a slight plan in place for it. "We spent a lot of our time – most of our time – looking at what-if scenarios. Not necessarily plan for the best case but always planning for all of the other alternatives. Looking at what's happened historically, looking at what other teams have done in the race before trying to really dive into the detail that's needed." Collins was already a very experienced operator in the F1 paddock long before she took over the leading strategy role at Aston Martin in 2020. She had been with the team for five years at that point, having joined when it was still branded as Force India, where she worked closely with the likes of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. She had previously worked at McLaren where she served as performance engineer to World champion and future Sky Sports colleague Jenson Button for a spell. She quit Aston Martin in 2022, citing the ever-increasing strain placed on staff by an expanding race calendar, and has since made the leap into broadcasting. Collins was snapped up by Sky Sports where she has become a key part of the broadcaster's rotating punditry team. It didn't take long for the Northern Irelander to become a fans' favourite for her keen strategy insight and affable on-screen personality, while she also works as a public speaker for the Champions Agency. Reacting to incidents in real time as a TV pundit comes naturally to Collins, having made a career out of split-second calls as an F1 strategist. "Communication on the pit wall can often be quite frantic," she said. "Things are coming in in a hurry, often you're dealing with two cars that might have two different problems. "The F1 environment is very pressurised. You're making decisions often within 50–60 seconds, depending on where an incident is and where the pit line is. You're trying to decide whether to stop, and you're balancing a lot of data, a lot of comms. "A lot of that comes down to the preparation. Many decisions, you may have an answer for in your toolbox, from previous scenarios. The more prepared people can be, the better you can make those decisions under pressure. I've always taken a lot of time to try and go through those scenarios in advance, and then do analysis. "If you made a decision, why was it the right one? And, in perfect hindsight, would you do the same thing again? Try to remove all the emotion from it. That continuous process means that, going forward, you feel stronger to make those decisions under pressure." But while she was head of the strategy at Aston Martin, it remained very much a team effort. "In F1, we're under-resourced. We don't have all of the people that you would have at the time that you need them. So, you need to rely on the most junior members of the group. They have a specific role, specific information they're looking for, and they're feeding that up to whoever it is. "You have to rely on that information, you have to trust that information. It's about trusting your experts and the feeling they're in, such that we don't have time for everyone to double-check the answer. If there's a mistake, if there's an error, we run through it later. It means that you're developing the junior members of the group to really fulfil their role going forward. "It is easy, especially in strategy, once you've done a pit stop, to say, 'That's clearly not the right decision.' It is always very obvious one lap later whether it was right or wrong. What's important is that you either change the procedure, change the data you're looking at, or change the process such that the decision is not made again. That is how the team learns. "It was very obvious very quickly within strategy that you put your hand up and say, 'I don't think that was the right decision, in hindsight.' We go through all the data next week, go through the information we had at the time, and figure out what we could have done differently. All of that goes back into relying on people – the faith in themselves to make decisions under pressure really quickly."
Wales Online
4 hours ago
- Wales Online
Martin Brundle was shaken up after David Beckham incident next to Lewis Hamilton's car
Martin Brundle was shaken up after David Beckham incident next to Lewis Hamilton's car Martin Brundle had to bide his time before finally getting to interview David Beckham on a Formula 1 grid, although he was left wondering if it was worth the hassle Martin Brundle as he finally spoke to David Beckham on one of his grid walks (Image: Sky Sports F1 ) Martin Brundle had a "scary" moment during one of his renowned F1 grid walks as he attempted to land an interview with David Beckham. A stalwart of the motorsport community for over 40 years, Brundle is held in high regard within the industry as both an ex-driver and commentator. Known particularly among the new wave of F1 fans for his pre-race grid walks, Brundle often mingles with celebrities and sports stars before lights out. Over the years, he's managed to engage with some illustrious figures, although not everyone is eager to be quizzed on the grid, leading to some awkward and, at times, amusing moments. That included Beckham, whom Brundle caught up with at the 2022 Miami Grand Prix. Brundle was eager to speak to the Manchester United legend - now the co-owner of MLS club Inter Miami - having missed out on a chat with the former England captain at the previous year's Qatar Grand Prix. "I was in Qatar trying to speak to David Beckham and there were two guys man-marking me," Brundle told SPORTbible. "Wherever I went, they were just looking at me. They did not want me to talk to David Beckham on that grid. The World Cup was coming up, wasn't it? That was a little bit scary. Article continues below Beckham was at the Qatar Grand Prix after signing an ambassadorial role with the country (Image: Dan Istitene - Formula 1, Formula 1 via Getty Images ) "They were literally on the grid to stop me. So, I went round the back of [Lewis] Hamilton's car, and they went round the front and kind of just looked at me. That was a little bit odd." On finally catching up with Beckham in Miami, Brundle was left wondering if it was worth the hassle after getting some rather bland answers. Brundle told GQ: "I was pretty determined to speak to him. And then when I did, I thought, 'I don't know why I bothered,' basically. "I didn't feel good about it, particularly. I don't like bothering people. If they don't want to talk to you, they don't want to talk to you. There are plenty of people who do. "You've got to remember I've been on a F1 grid for 38 years, well over half the life of Formula 1. I've been to well over half of the grands prix in the history of Formula 1, so I feel pretty comfortable in that space. I feel it's my territory." Brundle wondered whether his chat with Beckham worth the hassle (Image: Sky Sports ) Article continues below Brundle has often admitted he isn't a fan of his grid walks, which he undertakes at three out of every four races he works at under the terms of his Sky Sports contract. He told the Telegraph in 2022: 'We get in amongst it. The grid gets very busy. 'There must have been a thousand people on there in Vegas. I can't see anybody half the time, I can't see an F1 car sometimes! 'Because it's a bit edgy - and sometimes we fail miserably - people are living it, whether I'm having a good day or a bad day. I've never watched one in 27 years of doing it because it's not my natural habitat, to run around being cheeky and interrupting people. But it's grown a life of its own.'
