F1 | Bodywork damage cost Hamilton over half a second per lap, say Mercedes

Sunday saw what is becoming an increasingly familiar sight of late – an F1 podium ceremony without Lewis Hamilton on the top step. The reigning champion could manage no better than fourth place in Austria after picking up damage on his Mercedes – damage that left him powerless to challenge the top three.

Hamilton – who yesterday confirmed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes – made up a place at the start to run third and eventually found his way past the racy McLaren of Lando Norris. However, as title rival Max Verstappen was pulling away up front, his race started to unravel after some heavy contact with the Red Bull Ring’s Turn 10 kerbs.

“It looks like the bodywork damage for Lewis was at the end of lap 29 just before we came in,” confirmed Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director. “The downforce loss was around six or seven-tenths but as it was all from the rear, the balance become difficult and we were damaging the rears with sliding.”  —read more—