Lewis Hamilton has ‘taken heart’ away from the Austrian Grand Prix after a damage limitation drive to finish in fourth place.
Having started in eighth place after taking a five-place grid drop for changing his gearbox out of sequence, the Briton managed to claw his way through the traffic to limit the damage title rival Sebastian Vettel inflicted by finishing in second place.
In the dying laps of the race the Mercedes driver piled on the pressure towards Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, however, he does feel he may have given the Australian too much room to breathe in their battle at the end of the race.
Hamilton said: “It’s been a difficult weekend, but I can take heart that I limited the damage to Sebastian in the points and that I went forward through the field. The car was great today, I could push the entire race on the tyres and I gave it absolutely everything out there.
“I really don’t think there was much left in the car at the end of the race, but I was probably a bit too kind in my fight with Daniel – and left him too much space. I won’t do that again”
The three-time world champion did congratulate his team-mate Valtteri Bottas on the victory in Austria, Hamilton now believes Bottas can be a credible title threat as the Finn continues to close in on himself and Vettel.
The points gap between Hamilton and Vettel has increased to 20 points after the Austrian weekend, however, Hamilton has vowed to never give up and wants to use the next race at Silverstone as a jumping-off point for a renewed title challenge.
“We’ve slipped further behind Sebastian again, but there’s a long way to go.” Hamilton added. “I’ll keep battling and I’ll never give up. Valtteri did a great job all weekend and thoroughly deserves the win. He’s just 15 points behind me now and he’s very much in this title fight.
“I’m really looking forward to Silverstone – I’ve got a few days to put this weekend behind me. I can’t wait to see the home crowd again and start with a clean slate. I hope I can use Silverstone as a springboard for the second half of my season.”
