As a team, Mercedes is having a Ferrari-like season. There seems to be very low clarity as to where they are and what they need to do. As per Toto Wolff, the Austrian GP Qualifying gave them contrasting and “underwhelming” results. Lewis Hamilton got P5 and George Russell secured P11. Considering the fact that Mercedes got a double podium in Spain and a P3 in Canada, this was a disappointing result. However, an F1 expert had a different view of the performance.

Coming into the Austrian race weekend, Mercedes was Red Bull’s number 1 competitor. But Ferrari and Lando Norris’ McLaren found pace and out-qualified Lewis Hamilton. Their weekend did not get off to the best start. Peter Windsor analyzed Hamilton’s pace in the long run in the Free Practice session. And on his YouTube Live, he said that the Briton has nothing to worry about as the W14 did very well in the long runs.

Windsor said that the Mercedes’ top speed was 314 km/h and they had the third-highest top speed. Also, in the longer runs, Hamilton had the second-best lap time of 1:09.7 seconds. Windsor said, “Lewis Hamilton if he’s a bit depressed about his grid position should be delighted with how good that car was on the long run today. The Mercedes seems to be really good with fuel in the car.”

Though P5 might not be the best, Hamilton accepted the result and said he’s looking forward to the sprint race. But everything has horribly gone wrong for him.

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After the Qualifying session, Hamilton said, “It’s not P1 but I’ll take it and try and work with it. We will see if we can do better in Sprint qualifying, depending on the weather and temperatures.” The Sprint Shootout that should have raised his spirits has completely dampened him.

Mercedes have had an absolute horror show in the Sprint Shootout. It was a shocker for everybody when Lewis Hamilton got eliminated in SQ1 because this is so unlike him. Adding to their woes, George Russell had to sit out SQ2 owing to a hydraulic issue with the car. Now, Hamilton has very little hope for the Sprint Race as getting into the points is next to impossible. P18 to P8 in half an hour is only possible if god forbid, there is a big crash.

Hamilton and Mercedes’ weekend has gone from bad to worse. All that the team has to look forward to is the main race on Sunday. Their Saturday looks pretty wrapped up already.

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