So Lewis Hamilton’s car was left, although the damage is not visible because the impact was on the right side. Photo REUTERS / Florion Goga
After the British Grand Prix, where Carlos Sainz took his first win, Lewis Hamilton managed to finish third for the second consecutive race. Although the Red Bull Ring is the favorite circuit of the Austrians and, therefore, it is here that Max Verstappen dominates, Mercedes had shown that they were capable of fighting for the lead. But in Q3 both cars crashed and their options ended there.
“We will win as a team, we will lose as a team”, highlighted the team on his Twitter account. There he also warned that “both cars hit the wall in Q3 and had to leave qualifying”.
“The pilots are fine, but the team will have a lot of work to do. George starts the sprint race from P5, Lewis from P10, many opportunities to catch up, “enthused the Formula 1 champion team.
It wasn’t long before the start of the final part of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix before Hamilton raised the first red flag. With the riders conditioned by the limits of a very difficult track and an intense wind that didn’t even help to respect them, the seven-time world champion lost control in the complicated Turn 7 and could not avoid the strong impact of the car’s right side against the protective wall, five minutes and 29 seconds from the end.
“I’m so sorry guys, I’m so sorry for damaging the car”the Englishman managed to say, who confirmed that he was physically fine although very sorry because he was able to fight for the pole and after the crash the mechanics will have to work against time to repair both the front and rear suspension of the sprint .
Mercedes’ expectations were therefore aimed at Russell, who was fifth up to that point. However, the Briton also failed to complete Q3 and left his team even more seriously injured.
With five minutes left, Russell was first out of the restart – he’s also under investigation if he did so when allowed. But, far from improving the time, with two and a half minutes to go he hit the rear of the Mercedes at Turn 1, ending a forgettable Q3 for the champion team, which had shown great improvements in this ranking.
Source: Clarin
