Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes ace admits Austrian Grand Prix worry after France win
LEWIS HAMILTON has admitted that he must qualify well in Austria to be in with any chance of beating rivals Ferrari and Red Bull.
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The Mercedes driver got back to winning ways in France last Sunday, leading from start to finish in a comfortable victory that saw him return to the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Sebastian Vettel’s fifth-placed finish means that Hamilton is 14 points ahead of his German rival with the pair racing to become the first to five titles to draw level with the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio.
The French Grand Prix was part of an F1 triple-header with part two seeing the teams travel to Austria’s Red Bull Ring in the mountainous Styrian countryside.
Hamilton has won just once there but it is a track on which Mercedes have dominated, a Silver Arrows driver standing atop the podium in all four years since Austria’s return to the sport’s calendar in 2014.
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It’s going to be about who qualifies where, isn’t it?
But after winning at Circuit Paul Ricard, 33-year-old Hamilton has acknowledged how vitally important it is that he starts as high up the grid as possible next weekend.
"I think Austria should be a fairly decent track," he said previewing the next race. "It's been a decent track for us in the past, so I don't see why it should be any different now.
"The Red Bulls have been particularly quick there in the past because it's quite a good downforce circuit, so it'll be interesting.
"It's great that we are close in qualifying nowadays but positioning is everything, really.
“At that track you can't really overtake. Even though you've got those long straights, it's very, very difficult to overtake. You can't follow through Turn 1.
"It’s going to be about who qualifies where, isn’t it?”
Hamilton finished fourth in Austria last year with his only previous win coming in 2016.
A third DRS zone has been added to try and aid the hope of an exciting wheel-to-wheel race.
Part three of F1’s triple-header after Austria sees a return to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix where Hamilton - winner in all of the last four years - will look to become the most successful driver in the race’s history.
He is currently tied on five wins with compatriot Jim Clark and Frenchman Alain Prost.