Lewis Hamilton on impact of Ferrari’s new upgrades: “We’re a huge chunk off”

Lewis Hamilton has conceded Ferrari’s new upgrade package for the Austrian Grand Prix hasn’t “changed our competitiveness” after a tricky Friday.

Hamilton ended second practice 10th fastest, 0.931s down on Lando Norris’ top time.

Ferrari’s upgrades was the big talking point going into this double-header in Austria and Britain.

Ferrari’s season has been hampered by a rear suspension issue, which prevents them from running their car optimally.

This also means their floors suffer significant wear during races, so both drivers usually have to manage their pace.

Ferrari have a revised floor for this weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

However, it seems that it has had little impact on Ferrari’s overall pace.

Speaking after Friday practice in Austria, Hamilton said: “A huge amount of work went on to bring the floor but as you see, it’s not necessarily changed our competitiveness.

“The car doesn’t feel bad but we’re a huge chunk off pace wise. We need to look into that. We will just keep pushing and try and dial the car in more, and see what we can get. It’s obviously very close in the top 10 so a tenth can make the difference so we will work towards trying to gaining at least that overnight.”

A gearbox issue compromised Hamilton’s FP1 running.

The 40-year-old was pleased with Ferrari’s recovery but ruled out challenging at the front in qualifying.

“Not spectacular. We had a problem in the morning with the gearbox which was obviously difficult, frustrating for everyone in the garage because the boys did a great job,” Hamilton added.

“They kept topping it up but we could only do one lap so we couldn’t do the long runs and stuff. I think we recovered OK with it. They did a great job changing the gearbox and getting us ready for P2.

“Charles was six-tenths off. I was close to a second off. Not ideal but I think there’s lots of learn so we will make some changes. Hopefully we can try and get a little bit closer. We won’t be at the front.”

Leclerc: Performance not quite there

Charles Leclerc sat out of FP1 as Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic got a taste of an F1 car in a competitive session.

Leclerc felt he didn’t need much time getting up to speed after missing first practice.

But like Hamilton, he wasn’t too complimentary about Ferrari’s performance.

“Not really. FP1 didn’t really compromise FP2,” Leclerc explained. “I felt kind of at ease on the track straight away but not really as easily as the car and how it feels.

“There’s quite a bit of work that needs to be done for tomorrow. It doesn’t feel like the performance is quite there yet but hopefully we will put everything together tomorrow and take a step forward. There’s quite a lot of work to be done tonight.”