Lewis Hamilton admits he is pushing Mercedes as hard as he can but Red Bull remain “hard to beat” at the Styrian Grand Prix.
The Briton is looking to turn the momentum back in his favour after falling 12 points behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship following last weekend’s defeat to the Dutchman at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Indeed, before heading to Austria, Hamilton went to Brackley for a victory visit but after practice at the Red Bull Ring on Friday, the seven-time world champion still thinks he is playing catch up.
“It’s a work in progress, I think we were a little bit down, particularly over a single lap,” he analysed post-session.
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“Generally over the day the car felt relatively solid, I didn’t really have too many big problems today. I’m happier with where we got the car to.
“I’ve been working flat out all week trying to understand where I want to put the car. I’m hopeful that the hard work starts paying off soon,” he added.
“[There were] some weaknesses and as I said coming into the weekend, we’re losing on the straight a considerable amount. We’ve just got to keep working to try and rectify that.
“It’s very close I think with the whole pack. but the Red Bulls, definitely, will be really hard to beat.”
The true pecking order after Friday though is somewhat skewed as Hamilton had his best lap time deleted due to track limits, a time that was quicker than pacesetter Verstappen.
But that still doesn’t ease Lewis’ feeling that he’s playing catch up.
“I will do everything I can during the evening to make the right steps in the right direction but generally eking most of it out of the car,” he added.
“I don’t know if it’s a four-tenths gap, I think one of my laps got taken away and it was a lot closer. It’s close, but as I said – particularly in race pace – they (Red Bull) were really, really strong.
“They’re throwing some really good punches right now, so we’ve just got to have our guards up and make sure we’re ready for the return.
“I think they’ve just got the edge, maybe more. We don’t know what they’re going to do when they turn that engine up.”