Austrian GP | Lewis Hamilton laments pace deficit and gearbox troubles after Friday practice. Lewis Hamilton ends a difficult Friday at the Austrian GP.

Lewis Hamilton’s comments on his Friday in Austria: the Briton struggled in both free practice sessions

Hamilton, a Friday from the fifth row in Austria

Ninth in FP1, tenth in FP2: at the Red Bull Ring, Lewis Hamilton failed to shine. He was off the pace both on single-lap performance (trailing Lando Norris’s McLaren by as much as nine tenths—a massive gap on such a short track) and in race pace.

The seven-time Formula One world champion repeatedly complained to the team about the lack of pace in the SF-25, and the data confirmed his impressions. Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari also suffered a gearbox issue that kept him in the garage for part of FP1.

Lewis Hamilton’s words
“We lost some time during FP1 due to a gearbox problem, which set us back a bit. The second session went better, but we’re still not where we want to be in terms of pace. There’s still work to do: we’ll keep looking for the right setup tonight together with the team,” said the Briton.

A warning for the incident with Kimi Antonelli
In FP2, Lewis Hamilton was also involved in a clear case of impeding against Kimi Antonelli at Turn 4, for which he immediately apologized. He received a simple warning for the incident.