Lewis Hamilton believes his chances of victory in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix are “out of the question” after qualifying fourth at the Red Bull Ring.
Mercedes had hoped to reduce the gap to Red Bull following its clear deficit in performance at last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, with Hamilton finishing 35 seconds adrift of race winner Max Verstappen.
But the team’s struggles in Austria continued as Hamilton only managed to nab a second row starting position, while Verstappen powered his way to a third successive pole position.
Hamilton will also start behind McLaren’s Lando Norris and Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez, with the seven-time world champion admitting he is just lacking pace.
“It’s even more of a challenge than it was already last week, and [we] continue to lack pace,” Hamilton said.
“I tried everything to get more out of the car. It’s just the underlying pace, that’s where we’re at, at the moment. So we’ve got to really find performance in the following races.
“I don’t know if McLaren have brought an upgrade, but they’re mega quick today, so great job from Lando. We’ve just got to try and improve.”
Mercedes has left the door wide open for Verstappen and Red Bull to extend their leads in both championships, with Hamilton looking to limit the damage from qualifying.
The Briton doesn’t expect to mount a recovery in Sunday’s race, predicting an “easy cruise win” for Verstappen.
“In terms of pure pace, it’s definitely out of the question,” Hamilton said.
“Those guys firstly have got two cars to get by in front, and they’ve got three tenths on us, I think they’ve improved their car again this weekend.
“I would say that’s an easy cruise win for Max. I think for us, it’s to try and see if we can get ahead of at least Perez, and try to limit the damage this weekend.”
