“We’re slower than Haas”– Lewis Hamilton complains about Mercedes pace after Mick Schumacher defends against him bravely

Lewis Hamilton complains about Mercedes’s pace after Mick Schumacher gives him massive trouble for the P8 during the sprint race.

Mercedes reached Speilberg with massive expectations after all the development they made in their car. But the debacles of qualifying made them stuck in the DRS train during the sprint race.

Lewis Hamilton finished at P8, but the result wasn’t easy. He was challenged by Mick Schumacher for several laps before he could overtake the German.

The courageous defence by Schumacher was lauded by the F1 fans. However, it wasn’t pleasing for Mercedes for the obvious reasons, as Hamilton couldn’t even fight Kevin Magnussen for P7, as there weren’t enough laps left.

Hamilton after the sprint race gave his judgement on his battle with Schumacher. The 37-year-old feels that Mercedes’ W13 pace is slower than Haas at straights.

“I haven’t learned anything from the race, except that we’re slower than Haas on the straights. But I only have one Haas in front of me now and not two, so we have to wait until we get off the DRS train to try to reposition the car,” said Hamilton.

That was some super impressive defending by Mick Schumacher 🤩👏🏻. Might not have been enough to score points. But it gave HAAS and Kevin the 7th place finish @F1 #F1Sprint

— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) July 9, 2022

Also read: F1 Twitter reacts to Mick Schumacher defending his position against Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton seeks recovery in the main race

Surely, the two Haas cars irked Hamilton for the majority of the race, but with the fourth-row start, Hamilton can overtake Magnussen with a better start.

If that happens, he would be in direct contention against his usual rivals for the rest of the race. Though, even Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is also not happy with the car pace, so minor upgrades can be seen for Sunday.

#AustrianGP 🇦🇹: Toto Wolff says Mick Schumacher did what he had to do to keep his position: “We are at a disadvantage because we are so draggy, and [missing] a bit of performance. [Mick] needs to do that.”

— deni (@fiagirly) July 9, 2022

On the other hand, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell will be at the P4 start on Sunday. Over there, Mercedes can hope for another top5 result if not a podium.

Also read: Michael Schumacher created his last mechanical masterpiece in $230,000 Audemars Piguet Watch

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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