With Ferrari gaining speed and momentum, Lewis Hamilton has identified a critical weakness that could derail progress. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc delivers a firm ultimatum, raising questions about Ferrari’s internal dynamics and strategy going forward.
Ferrari were comfortably the second quickest team at the Austrian Grand Prix behind the runaway McLarens, but Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc know there is more work to do
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in Austria(Image: Getty Images)
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both want more despite a successful debut for Ferrari’s latest round of upgrades. The Italian brought a new floor with them to the Austrian Grand Prix and their car was clearly the second quickest on track as a result.
McLaren dominated proceedings in Spielberg with Lando Norris fending off team-mate Oscar Piastri to win. But Ferrari were also comfortable in third and fourth with Leclerc securing podium number four of the year, while Hamilton matched his best Grand Prix result with the team.
Their floor upgrades clearly worked well but they still had to lift and coast throughout the race to manage concerns that they might have failed post-race plank checks if they had driven flat out. And Hamilton also feels he still has some personal improvements to make, despite the improvements.
He said: “Mega progress for us as a team. It didn’t seem much on paper, just a small step, but it actually had a bigger influence on our performance. For us to be the second fastest team this weekend and we’re not a minute down from McLaren, which is a positive, and to bag some really strong points, I’m definitely happy with it.
“From my side, I’m struggling with the balance in the race and struggling to hold onto the pace and I lost a little bit too much ground, it’s something that I need to work on. I had a lot of understeer in the low speed and oversteer in the high speed, which is a hard balance to run through.
“I feel like I made progress this weekend, being less than a tenth off Charles in qualifying. So that’s a positive, I’ve just got to find some pace for the race.”
Leclerc was also satisfied with the step forward made by his team and felt they achieved the best possible result on Sunday. But he made it clear he does not want Ferrari to think too much about their 2026 efforts yet and continue to develop their current car.
He said: “I don’t regret much of what we’ve done today, I think we’ve done our maximum. Just not enough pace. We’ve brought some upgrades this weekend and we’ve definitely done a step forward, but we need to keep pushing in that direction in order to close the gap to the McLarens which, for now, are too quick.
“We are working in the right direction. We brought some upgrades this weekend which helped us to close a little bit the gap, but the gap is still significant, unfortunately, and we’ve got to push in order to bring as many upgrades as possible, as soon as possible.
“But it’s been a positive weekend overall I think and I’m happy that we’ve maximised our potential. Now we’ve got to have a better potential.”
