Wolff claims "extensive" floor damaged hampered Hamilton in Austria

F1 News

Wolff reveals Hamilton had floor damage in the Austrian Grand Prix
30 June at 19:09
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Lewis Hamilton's fourth-place finish helped ensure Mercedes walked away from the Austrian Grand Prix with more points than any other team. But Toto Wolff suggests more could've been possible for the seven-time World Champion after being plagued by extensive floor damage.

Hamilton was running in sixth during the closing stages of the race but, like his race-winning teammate George Russell, he benefited from the crash between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. The Brit gained two places. But Wolff highlights how Hamilton had a bad day.

Bad day for Lewis Hamilton in Austria

"It was one of the bad days. Pretty decent start, and a bad day," Wolff explained to GPblog and others in Austria. Mercedes told Hamilton to give a place back to Carlos Sainz in the early stages of the Grand Prix to avoid a potential penalty for overtaking off the track. Sainz ended up finishing on the podium. Wolff described this as "harsh" but then saw Hamilton's day get worse.

"It started to spiral. He pushed it very hard on the [pit] entry. You can see how much he pushed and lost the rear, and obviously, the next penalty came about. On top of that, he had floor damage, Which I guess most people have, but his was extensive. It was two and a half tenths in parts that broke off on the car. No reason to be angry or upset about it," Wolff concluded.

Hamilton himself admitted his race was "pretty shocking". "I'm just really happy to the team. Big congratulations to George and the team. It's well deserved. It was pretty shocking for me. It's been pretty s*** all weekend. Just generally slow," Hamilton told Sky Sports.