Hamilton reckons he has "moved forwards" after strong race weekend at Spielberg

F1 Grand Prix, GP Austria, Red Bull Ring

Having finished fourth at the Austrian Grand Prix, Ferrari's seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton reckoned that he has managed to "move forward" in terms of feeling with his SF-25.

Following a strong qualifying performance, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton started from second and fourth on the grid at today’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The start of the race was aborted and delayed by 15 minutes, after Carlos Sainz was unable to leave the grid on the formation lap. The opening lap saw Kimi Antonelli crash into the back of Max Verstappen's Red Bull which forced the race direction to deploy the the Safety Car.

Leclerc and Hamilton both started on medium tyres and went for a two-stop strategy, switching first to Hard and then back to Medium for the final stint.

Having lost second place to Oscar Piastri after the start, Leclerc delivered a measured performance to grab a podium finish after his third place at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton also had a relatively straightforward race, never really able to challenge his team-mate, but he was able to escape from Mercedes driver George Russell after their intense battle on the opening lap.

Having grabbed a third and fourth place finish at the Red Bull Ring, the Scuderia picked up 27 points and is now back in 2nd place in the Constructors’ championship.

Reflecting on his weekend, the seven-time world champion was left to praise the improvement in terms of one-lap pace, but he was not completely delighted with the race performance.

"It’s been a solid weekend for the team – we continued to improve our qualifying pace and the team did a great job throughout. We didn’t have the race pace we expected, but still, we came away with some solid points and a podium, which is something we can be proud of.

"We’ll analyse the data carefully to understand where improvements can be made. Thank you to everyone at the track and at the factory for their hard work and commitment. We remain focused and I’m looking forward to my first home Grand Prix with Ferrari."

Pushed on to explain the differences in terms of setup compared to his team-mate Leclerc, Hamilton has revealed that he's edging closer towards the Monegasque's set-up.

"Set-up even closer to Charles,. He drives a massively oversteering car. Somehow slides the rear, so it doesn't have degradation. When I slide the rear, I get massive degradation.

"It's definitely something I think you have to get used to. Supposedly, it took Carlos a couple of years to get used to. I don't want to do that," Hamilton continued.

"I think we've moved forwards. The upgrade was quite small, so we didn't really know. They didn't even mention any time because it was that small. But I think perhaps it was a bigger result from putting the floor on. That's the real positive," he explained.