Hamilton and Leclerc Surprised by Ferrari's Disappointing Pace in the Avusturya GP

Following the tough race in the Formula 1 Avusturya Grand Prix, Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could not hide their astonishment at the car's unexpectedly poor performance. While both drivers hoped to fight for the podium at the start of the race, they were forced to rapidly fall back in the standings due to excessive tire degradation caused by high temperatures. Starting from third place and engaging in an enjoyable battle with Max Verstappen from Red Bull in the early stages of the race, Hamilton could not find the expected pace. The excessive wear, especially at the rear of the tires, caused them to rethink their strategies from top to bottom, and they largely lost their chance to resist their rivals on the track. This unexpected situation led the team to seriously question the car setup and overall performance after the race.

Attempting to apply pressure to leader George Russell after passing his teammate Leclerc in the early stages of the race, Hamilton soon realized that the car was becoming unstable and starting to slide at the rear. The British driver, who experienced the same problem with every set of tires, stated that they even struggled to stay on track because they could not maintain the overall balance of the car. Forced to switch to a three-stop strategy due to this crisis, the seven-time world champion could not find the sufficient pace and grip area to make this tactic work. Hamilton stated that even though everything felt fine in the first few laps and they felt they were in attack mode, the drop in tire performance completely took the race out of their hands. This situation revealed that Ferrari is experiencing serious inconsistencies in both its single-lap pace and long race performance.

Despite starting the race in second place, Charles Leclerc experienced a dramatic drop in performance, falling back to eighth place. The car's stubborn and unpredictable handling characteristics caused the Monégasque driver to have serious doubts about the team's setup direction. Leclerc said that while he was quite happy with his car during the qualifying sessions held just one day earlier, he could not see the same consistency and speed on the track on race day. The young driver, who stated that he was generally struggling with a very low grip level, emphasized that failing to keep the tires in the correct temperature range (window) was one of the biggest problems from his perspective. This massive performance difference between Saturday and Sunday initiated a new investigation process for Leclerc, who believes it stems from not having a clear picture of the car's feeling.

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur suggested after the race that the main reason behind the drivers' failure was pushing the tires too hard in the opening laps to keep up with their rivals. The French team principal, who stated that they actually did not have the basic pace to race against Mercedes and Verstappen, expressed that they took too many risks in the early laps to compensate for this deficit. Vasseur argued that going far beyond the limits and following an aggressive strategy meant they paid a heavy price at the end of the race. He added that getting stuck in traffic also caused the cars' engines to overheat, which prevented Hamilton from showing more performance on the track. Although they tried to control the overheating issue by racing in clean air, the conditions in Avusturya and their track positions did not allow them to achieve this.

This tough Avusturya Grand Prix was another reflection of the structural issues Ferrari has experienced in recent weeks and particularly the ongoing negative trend of Leclerc failing to get performance out of the car. As in past races, it was once again proven that the SF-25 car suffers from a serious weakness, especially in its long-distance (race pace) performance on race day. The drivers' inability to set up the car as they wish and find the right balance for the track stands out as an urgent issue that the team's engineering department needs to focus on. While Vasseur described this race as a good lesson for the team, he also admitted that learning from mistakes is extremely vital for the championship battle. Ferrari's disappointing performance proves that they need to do a much better job technically and strategically to consistently reach the top positions in the rest of the season.