Hamilton: Mercedes lacking ‘raw pace’ to overtake Red Bull in F1 Styrian GP

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton doubts Mercedes has the “raw pace” to take the fight to Red Bull in the Styrian Grand Prix.
(L to R): Max Verstappen (
(L to R): Max Verstappen (
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Hamilton had no answer to title rival Max Verstappen’s spe𓆏ed in qualifying in Spielberg as the Red Bull driver stormed to his third pole position of the season in co🐼mmanding style.

The seven-time world champion🔯 made a mistake on his final Q3 run and ended up 0.226s down on Verstappen’s benchmark, while he was also outpaced by Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bott𝕴as.

But Hamilton will joi𒀰n Verstappen on the front row after Bottas’ three-place grid drop for his practice spin is applied.

“They have been so fast this weekend, been giving it absolutel🎉y everything and it just wasn’t the greatest of sessions,” Hamilton said.

“But🌟 nevertheless, it’s still the front row obviousꩲly after the penalty. I did everything we could, so we’re going to race tomorrow for a fight.

“Generally they had a quarter of a second on us all weekend, and I think we have managed to eke closer inဣ qualifying but in race trim yesterday, ไthey were one-quarter of a second ahead of us most of the time.

“It will be interesting to see if we can manage it. I don’t think we have raw pace to overtake them, that’s for surꦕe, but we might just be able to keep up.”

Hamilton has not won since the Spanish Grand Prix in May, while Red Bull heads into Sunday’s race in Austr☂ia off the back🥀 of a hat-trick of victories, with Verstappen looking to convert pole into his fourth win of 2021 in Austria.

“I am going to be giving it everyt💯hing obviously, but I’m 🔜just talking about pure pace,” Hamilton added.

“But🗹 maybe tomorrow we will be surprised, maybe it rains. Who knows?”

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