Lewis Hamilton was left bemused by Mercedes’ cooling issues which left them trailing Red Bull and Ferrari in Austria.
The team’s 10-race win streak, of which the Briton has taken the last four, came to a grinding halt in Spielberg as Lewis had his worst result since Montreal last year in fifth.
It was a big step back from the dominance Hamilton has enjoyed in 2019, with his race also derailed by having to change the front wing after a kerb strike.
“If we didn’t have our engine temperature issues today we would have been in that fight,” he stated to the media post-race.
“We were lifting and coasting like 400 metres plus per lap so we were a long way down, if I didn’t have to do that we would have the pace I think but unfortunately that’s just the way it was.
“I’m not really sure why we had the issue we had today and the others didn’t,” he noted. “They didn’t have to do any lift-and-coasting and just pushed the whole way, which is how Formula 1 should be.
“It’s a good track for overtaking here and unfortunately we weren’t in that position to be able to do so.”
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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed cooling had been a problem faced by the team all season but had managed to keep under control until Sunday.
“It was really painful to watch cruising, not being able to defend or attack,” the Austrian said.
“The next step would have been to remove all the bodywork, but that was not really an option because the sponsors wouldn’t have liked it!
“Right on the limit. We couldn’t do anything anymore, and it was already very damaging for performance what we did. There was no step left anymore.”
Bottas was still able to finish third, helping him trim Hamilton’s championship lead to 31 points, but largely echoed his team’s comments.
“We had to do a big amount of lift and coast and couldn’t actually use any of the better engine modes in the race,” the Finn revealed.
“We were always on safe modes, because of the overheating. It felt like we couldn’t really race today.
“So it was nice to have a good track position and a clear track ahead of me. Under the circumstances, I’m happy I managed to be on the podium and also I managed to get a few points against Lewis.”
