Lewis Hamilton says he doesn’t understand why Mercedes had to reduce their pace much more than their rivals during the Austrian Grand Prix.

The world championship leader said he had to ‘lift and coast’ for more than 400 metres per lap at times around the 4.3 kilometre Red Bull Ring

“I’m not really sure why we had the issue we had today and the others didn’t,” said Hamilton. “They didn’t have to do any lift-and-coasting and just pushed the whole way which is how Formula 1 should be.”

Hamilton never got close to another car to attempt a pass and lost fourth place to Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages of the race. “It’s a good track for overtaking here,” he said, “unfortunately we weren’t in that position to be able to do so.”

There was “no way” he could join the fight for victory, said Hamilton. “We were lift-and-coasting 400-plus [metres] per lap. We were a long way down.

“I think if we didn’t have to do that we would have pace, I think. But unfortunately that was just the way it was. So you could never get close to anyone.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said yesterday the combination of high temperature and altitude at the race compromised Mercedes’ cooling. Hamilton said he has “no idea” whether that will be a problem in other races this year.

“I don’t think it’ll be in a lot of places but I’m sure there’ll be at least another one, maybe like Mexico or something,” he said.

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2019 F1 season