Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for Mercedes on Friday, while team-mate George Russell could only manage 11th after being knocked out in Q2; watch Austrian GP Sprint Shootout live on Sky Sports F1 at 11am on Saturday, followed by the Sprint at 3:30pm
Saturday 1 July 2023 10:22, UK
Toto Wolff described Mercedes' Austrian Grand Prix qualifying performance as "underwhelming" after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were outpaced by upgraded Ferrari and McLaren cars.
With the Red Bull Ring hosting the second Sprint weekend of the season, Hamilton finished fifth on Friday in qualifying for Sunday's race, while team-mate Russell could only manage 11th after being knocked out in Q2.
World championship leader Max Verstappen unsurprisingly took pole for Red Bull, but Hamilton was also comfortably beaten by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, along with Lando Norris in the sole upgraded McLaren.
Mercedes have shown plenty of promise since bringing major updates of their own in May, with Hamilton arriving in Austria on the back of two successive podiums, but some of the momentum the team has built appears under threat of fizzling out in Spielberg.
"Overall [it was] underwhelming," Mercedes team principal Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
"We came with expectations that we would be fighting for P2 or P3, with the Ferraris and Aston Martins, and we underperformed."
While Mercedes have already made hugely significant changes to the W14, more upgrades are set to be unveiled over the coming weeks, with both Wolff and his drivers optimistic regarding their potential impact.
Red Bull have won all eight races this season, but the battle behind the reigning constructors' champions has been far more tightly contested between Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari.
"You see that the time gaps are not huge," Wolff said. "You're talking two tenths up and down and it makes a big difference.
"We are bringing something to Silverstone and hopefully it has the impact that McLaren and Ferrari had [with their upgrades] today."
Hamilton appeared to have the edge over Russell through practice and qualifying on Friday, and was able to crucially edge in front of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso at the end of Q3.
The seven-time world champion appeared uncertain over the W14's race pace, but had shown impressive speed on the hard tyre to top the timesheet for much of practice.
"It's not P1 but I'll take it and try and work with it," Hamilton said after qualifying.
"I think our race pace was possibly around third fastest. I think the Red Bulls and Ferraris are quickest and maybe the Astons so maybe we're fourth.
"I'm not quite sure exactly, we were just trying to focus on getting round as quick as we could today. It was a very difficult session, not an easy circuit. Our car in general in the past has not really suited this circuit and it showed it again today.
"We will see if we can do better in Sprint qualifying tomorrow [Saturday], depending on the weather and temperatures."
After failing to advance to Q3 for the third time in the last six races, Russell admitted that he needs to gain a better understanding of what his causing him to struggle in qualifying.
"Just not quick enough today," Russell said. "From the first lap in practice, just didn't have the right feel in the car.
"In the sprint weekend you don't have a lot of time to make changes. Let's see what we can do tonight and into tomorrow.
"We need to understand what's going on at the moment as we are struggling, especially on Saturdays."
Watch Austrian GP Sprint Shootout live on Sky Sports F1 at 11am on Saturday, followed by the Sprint at 3:30pm. Lights out for Sunday's race is at 2pm.
