28/06/2025 19:30
Lewis Hamilton has vowed to take action on Sunday in his bid to
finally end his podium drought with Ferrari. Heading into the
Austrian Grand Prix, it is the first time in Hamilton's stellar
career that he has started the first 10 races of a season without
finishing in the top three. Hamilton's previous worst record was
last season when he opened the campaign with Mercedes with nine
podium-less results before finishing third in Canada. For the race
at the Red Bull Ring, the seven-time F1 champion will start fourth
on the grid, his best qualifying performance since joining Ferrari
at the start of the year. Previously he had managed fifth in China,
Spain and Canada. Hamilton still faces a fight given the McLaren
duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are ahead of him, with the
pair sandwiching his team-mate, Charles Leclerc, in second.
Reflecting on his performance, speaking to the media, including
RacingNews365 , Hamilton said: "I'm grateful I'm on the second row
at least, and our car is better in the race generally than it
usually is in qualifying, so we've improved in qualifying this
weekend. Let's hope that we can carry that over to the race." As to
whether he could finally score a podium with the Scuderia,
referencing his drought between race wins before he finally won
last year's British Grand Prix, Hamilton said: "It feels like that
900-odd days thing with the win. Hopefully it won't take 900 days.
"The last few races I've said, 'Yeah, I can't wait to get that
podium'. So I'm not going to say it. I'm just going to put myself
towards action, rather than words." There was also a playful dig at
long-time rival Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver struggled on
the team's home soil, and will line up three places behind Hamilton
in seventh. Asked if there was an opportunity of a strong result if
he kept out of trouble, Hamilton said: "I mean, Max isn't up
there," before chuckling. "I won't be bumping into anybody, that's
for sure." Hamilton edging closer to Lecler Following a difficult
Friday for Ferrari, the worry was the new floor introduced for this
weekend had not delivered the improvement in performance that had
been expected or hoped for. But with overnight improvements on the
car, Leclerc and Hamilton delivered, with the latter also praising
the team for what he said was its "best qualifying process
operationally" this season that also made a difference. Hamillton
at least feels he has taken a positive step in the right direction.
"Setup wise, I'm finally getting much closer to where Charles has
the car, for example, which I've not been able to do all year," he
said. "Ultimately I was as fast as him. This is as close as I've
been because he's very quick at qualifying and, again, he's just so
used to this car. He hardly ever changes anything, so that's a
positive. So, incremental steps. I do anticipate to continue on
this road and eventually switch it." Hamilton feels he could have
even have out-qualified Leclerc, who finished just 0.090s ahead. "I
had more time in the lap," he said. "I was nearly three tenths up
going into Turn 6, and I had a massive snap going in. "And then I
came across the line, point zero six up, so that would have put me
second. So there are positives in it, for sure."
