Mercedes Face Double Trouble At Austrian GP as George Russell Fails to Make SQ2 Appearance After Lewis Hamilton Mishap

The Mercedes F1 team had a disastrous Austrian Grand Prix sprint qualifying session on Saturday as none of their two drivers were able to make it to the third part of qualifying. Seven-time Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton only managed to qualify 18th while George Russell in the other Mercedes qualified 15th.

Hamilton had multiple troubles during the sprint qualifying session. Firstly, he had his lap deleted because of failing to stay within track limits. And secondly, he encountered traffic on his final attempt that prevented him from putting up a faster lap time to get out of the first part of qualifying.

As for Russell, he failed to qualify higher than 15th for absolutely no fault of his own as an issue prevented him from even registering a lap time during the second part of qualifying. After the session, Mercedes explained the issue they had with the 25-year-old’s car.

Mercedes explain the issues they had with George Russell’s car

After the Austrian Grand Prix sprint qualifying session was over, Mercedes explained the issue that prevented George Russell from taking any further part. As quoted by Deni, a spokesperson from the team said, “George will not be running in this qualifying segment owing to a hydraulic problem requiring a steering rack change“.

#AustrianGP 🇦🇹: George Russell will not run SQ2 and is out of the shootout.

A team spokesperson has confirmed: “George will not be running in this qualifying segment owing to a hydraulic problem requiring a steering rack change.”

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— deni (@fiagirly) July 1, 2023

Since both Mercedes cars failed to qualify to Q3 even during the traditional qualifying session, the team will have a lot to do if they are to score some good points this weekend. Russell qualified all the way back in 11th for the traditional qualifying session, while Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth.

Lewis Hamilton not worried about his sprint qualifying position

While speaking in his interview post the Austrian Grand Prix sprint qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton explained why he is not too concerned about his poor session. The Briton said (as quoted by Deni), “Sprint race doesn’t really matter anyway. I’ll just have some fun from the back. It is what it is. I don’t really feel anything about it. I wish I was still out there but not today“.

#AustrianGP 🇦🇹: Lewis Hamilton: “Timing wasn’t right. Sprint race doesn’t really matter anyway. I’ll just have some fun from the back.”

“It is what it is. I don’t really feel anything about it. I wish I was still out there but not today.” pic.twitter.com/qEDGchfa4O

— deni (@fiagirly) July 1, 2023

Since Hamilton will start all the way back from 18th during the sprint race, he will have to do a lot of overtaking if he is to score any points. This is because only the top eight drivers score points for a sprint race.