01/07/2025 08:55
Lewis Hamilton offered an honest comparison to Charles Leclerc
following the Austrian Grand Prix, insisting that his current race
pace is "just not good enough". The seven-time world champion had
a mixed weekend at the Red Bull Ring, which saw him qualify in
fourth – his best qualifying result for Ferrari so far. A front
row start would have been on the cards for the Briton; however, an
issue with his car allowed Leclerc to secure a front row start.
Despite the promising Saturday, race day was disappointing for
Hamilton despite praising the performance of a new floor. He did
judge Ferrari as having made steps in the right direction, although
conceded that he would have not finished in second had he qualified
on the front row. "I think, we moved forwards," Hamilton told
select media, including RacingNews365 . "I think the upgrade was
quite small, so we didn't really know [about it], they didn't even
mention any time, because it was that small. "But I think perhaps
that was a bigger result from putting the floor on, so that's a
real positive. Really great to see the team bringing the upgrade
and us moving forwards, being the second fastest, getting third and
fourth is a real positive. "So there's lots of good things to take
from the weekend, and there's lots of areas to focus on. I think
qualifying was better. We found a problem that I had through my
last qualifying lap, which lost me a tenth due to some issue on the
car. "So that's, again, a positive. But I would have gone
backwards if I started second, anyways. So I've got to find race
pace. That's that's key for me." Hamilton self-critical Hamilton's
main frustration at the Red Bull Ring was his race pace after
crossing the finish line a comfortable nine seconds adrift of
Leclerc. In the eyes of the 105-time race winner, his pace was
simply not good enough compared to his team-mate, making it a
crucial area of improvement. When asked if he felt race pace
progress had been made, Hamilton replied: "For me, no. Still losing
massive ground. "To lose eight seconds, nine seconds to Charles.
It's just not good enough. So that's what I've got to work on."
