Off-pace Hamilton 'might just be able to keep up'

40

Lewis Hamilton says that Mercedes are lacking 'raw pace' compared to their Red Bull rivals, making it a challenge for him simply to keep up with Max Verstappen in tomorrow's Styrian Grand Prix.

"I will be giving it everything, obviously, but I am just talking about pure pace," Hamilton told the media in parc ferme immediate after the end of Saturday's qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring.

"They generally have a quarter of a second on us all weekend," he explained. "We've managed to eke closer in qualifying, but in race trim yesterday they were a quarter of a second ahead of us most of the time.

Read also: Peerless Verstappen captures Styrian GP pole for Red Bull

"They've been so fast this weekend, so we have been giving it absolutely everything.

"I don't think we have raw pace to overtake them, that's for sure, but we might just be able to keep up," he suggested. "It'll be interesting to see whether or not we can manage it."

Hamilton's best final round time was 1:04.067s, with his final run thwarted by traffic and running off at turn 10 as he pushed too hard.

It meant he finished qualifying in third position, but a three-place grid drop for his team mate Valtteri Bottas means he will start the race from the front row alongside Verstappen.

"It wasn't the greatest of sessions," he conceded. "But nonetheless we're still on the front row after the penalty so we're going to race tomorrow for a fight.

Despite being Red Bull's home circuit, Mercedes has traditionally held the upper hand in Spielberg. The team has only failed to take pole twice before, with Williams on top in 2014 and Ferrari at the front in 2019.

With Hamilton now 12 points behind Verstappen in the drivers championship, the reigning world champion is far from giving up and looking for some divine help on Sunday.

"Maybe tomorrow, we'll be surprised. Maybe it rains, who knows?" he said.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.