Lewis Hamilton believes the contrast between the reaction post-France and post-Austria shows Formula 1 can’t be judged by one race.
After a year of Mercedes domination, the Silver cars were left behind as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc gave fans a thrilling battle to the end in Spielberg.
Certainly, it was much different than Hamilton’s runaway success at Paul Ricard a week prior and the Briton thinks Sunday highlighted the fickle nature of how the sport is viewed.
“I think ultimately what today shows us is that you can’t just look at one weekend and complain because that is what seems to happen,” he claimed.
“One weekend doesn’t go well and it’s like ‘oh the racing is boring’. Then you have a race like this and it’s like ‘oh, the racing is exciting’. Then the next race ‘it’s boring’. Just make up your minds and chill.”
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Naturally, many will argue the main reason why Austria was much more exciting was Mercedes’ lack of performance due to cooling issues.
And while team boss Toto Wolff was disappointed to see their 10-race winning streak end so timidly, he praised an under-fire Pirelli for their role in Sunday’s race.
“I feel it’s a very good day for Formula 1,” he declared.
“Some fantastic racing and I want to really say bravo to Pirelli that have stood strong to their opinion that withstands manipulation and delivered us a product that we were able to push until the very end.
“It is a little bit humorous that the ones that complained the most are the ones that pushed the tyres all the way to the end,” Wolff noted, referring to Ferrari and Red Bull.
“I think all the ones that used the biggest and the hardest words should remember the next time they start to complain because we shouldn’t be doing the criticising.”