Lewis Hamilton gets public telling off as Austrian GP result protested

07/02/2023

F1 preview: A lap of the Austrian Grand Prix

It’s Austrian Grand Prix day with the ninth race of the 2023 Formula One season getting underway this afternoon. Pole-sitter Max Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship by 68 points but with Sergio Perez starting P15, it is likely the Red Bull driver will again significantly increase that lead in Spielberg.

Verstappen is the huge favourite at the Red Bull Ring after a commanding sprint race victory yesterday. His biggest threat came from Perez with whom he battled against in the opening lap.

“The exit of turn one, that was not nice,” Verstappen said after he and Perez almost crashed early on. “It could have been a really big shunt, we need to have a chat about it, that is not OK.” The Red Bull duo were spotted chatting together after the race but it is highly unlikely there will be any similar wheel-to-wheel action between the two today.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz start second and third and will hope to test Verstappen from the race start. McLaren’s Lando Norris is fourth after upgrades to his car while Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes begins in fifth, with team-mate George Russell P11.

Follow Express Sport’s F1 live updates below…

Aston Martin launch post-race protest

Aston Martin have launched a protest which could alter the result of the Austrian Grand Prix.

The team claim that a number of cars were not penalised for breaching Article 33.3 of the sporting regulations on track limits.

A statement from race control revealed team bosses are set to meet with the stewards at 5:30pm UK time (6:30pm local).

Lewis Hamilton gives blunt interview as Brit and Wolff ‘lower than ever’

Lewis Hamilton was left deflated after the Austrian Grand Prix with Mercedes now “lower than ever”, according to Damon Hill.

The seven-time champion appeared numb and gave short responses after struggling to P7 in Spielberg.

Hamilton repeatedly complained over team radio and was furious when he was hit with a penalty for track limits violations.

When asked if there was an issue, Hamilton replied: “Uh, what problems? There was nothing wrong with the car. The car was fine.”

Pushed on whether it was just a lack of performance, Hamilton responded: “Yep.”

Christian Horner annoyed by Sky Sports reporter after Max Verstappen win

Christian Horner was left frustrated by a Sky Sports reporter despite Max Verstappen taking victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Horner shot down Simon Lazenby after the presenter questioned if Red Bull could win every race this season.

Lazenby asked: “Is there just a little bit in the back of your mind, one part thinking we may be able to go through an entire season here, if we don’t have any reliability issues, unbeaten?”

But, Horner refused to be drawn in on the speculation and admitted the squad were still taking it race by race.

He replied: “It drives me nuts when you ask those questions. We can only take it one race at a time.

“Can we? Yes, Will we? Who knows. I mean reliability. weather.”

Lewis Hamilton moans at Sergio Perez at Austrian GP

Lewis Hamilton raged at Sergio Perez in a team radio meltdown at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes star lost his temper after FIA bosses failed to punish the Red Bull star for breaking track limits rules.

Hamilton had already been hit with a five second penalty for repeatedly crossing the line at turn 10.

But, the seven-time champion was annoyed as he clearly felt penalties were not being handed out fairly.

He told race engineer Peter Bonnington: “Yep, Perez went off at turn 10. If they’re dishing these things out they might as well know.”

He later added: “This guy has been off every single time, turn 10 again.”

Lewis Hamilton accused of ‘disrespecting’ national anthem

Lewis Hamilton has been slammed by F1 fans for being “disrespectful” at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was seen pushing his fingers into his ears as the Austrian national anthem played minutes before the start of Sunday’s race.

@PencilWashingt1 said: “Pretty disrespectful. Lewis Hamilton during the Austrian anthem.”

@iamsidge added: “@LewisHamilton nothing like insulting the host country by putting your fingers in your ears for their national anthem! #disgusting.”

Lewis Hamilton takes another dig at Mercedes team

Lewis Hamilton has taken another shot at Mercedes bosses just months after claiming chiefs “didn’t listen” to him.

The seven-time champion has admitted he has been asking for “fundamental changes” to his car for “over a year” as the German marque continues to struggle.

The 38-year-old said he now “expects” the squad to take a different approach to the development of their vehicle which he is confident could change the team’s situation.

Speaking ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Hamilton explained: “Ultimately, there are fundamental changes that have to change for next year.

“And I’ve been asking for it for over a year. So I expect to have that in future, which I think will definitely help.”

Red Bull at risk of new Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez row

Red Bull boss Helmut Marko risks opening up new tensions between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez after the Austrian Grand Prix.

The team chief appears to be favouring Verstappen after pointing the finger at Perez in Spielberg.

Marko has confirmed he will hold crunch talks with Perez after the Mexican almost collided with Verstappen on Saturday.

He also claimed the battle between the two Red Bull stars was “unnecessary” and didn’t show “good teamwork”.

The duo almost collided on three occasions in a dramatic opening lap which almost led to disaster.

Nyck de Vries and Kevin Magnussen to start from the pits

Nyck de Vries and Kevin Magnussen will start the Austrian Grand Prix from the pitlane.

De Vries will take the penalty after making changes to his beam and rear wings, against parc ferme regulations.

Meanwhile, Magnussen has made unidentified set-up changes to his Haas ahead of the race.

Christian Horner laughs off Lewis Hamilton idea to hurt Red Bull

Christian Horner has rubbished Lewis Hamilton’s suggestion to the FIA aimed at tackling Red Bull’s dominance.

The Mercedes star feels teams should be banned from working on next year’s car to prevent dominant squads from getting an extra advantage.

He said constructors should not be able to work on 2024 development until August 1 as he admitted Red Bull are likely already two steps ahead for next year.

But, the 49-year-old team principal feels Hamilton’s idea would not work as it would be impossible to stop mechanics from thinking up new solutions.

He commented: “I think it would be an incredibly hard thing to police. How on earth could you say ‘Right, August 1, go!’

“How do you prevent people thinking about or working on next year’s cars?”

Van ‘t Hoff minute’s silence

F1 will hold a minute’s silence on the grid before the Austrian Grand Prix for Dilano van ’t Hoff.

The 18-year-old was killed in a crash in a Formula Regional Europe race yesterday at Spa-Francorchamps and his memory will be honoured at 1.45pm on the track.

Drivers want Spa changes

F1 drivers are calling for changes to be made to the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit after the death of 18-year-old Dutch driver Dilano van ‘t Hoff on Saturday.

Anthoine Hubert also lost his life at the Belgium track in 2019 and Pierre Gasly, a close friend of the deceased Frenchman, is among those wanting changes at Spa.

He said: “It reminds me of situations I’ve been in in the younger categories in Spa in similar conditions, and being fully honest, there were times where I did feel in massive danger just with poor visibility. There were situations where it just feels pretty unsafe.

“We do a risky sport which is always going to remain risky, whatever we do, with the speed that we go at. But it definitely needs a very deep investigation and just for the future of our sport making some changes.”

While Lance Stroll said: “I think Eau Rouge at Spa needs some looking into because we’ve lost two drivers now in a span of four or five years. It’s a really dangerous corner, we say it every year and it’s not fair what happened.

“I think that corner has to change. It’s way too dangerous and I think every time we go through there there’s an accident waiting to happen and it happened again and we lost a young kid. It’s not fair.

“We have to talk about it, it’s two drivers in a span of five years. That corner needs some changing. It’s a sad day for racing.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Royal who raced in Le Mans

Ferdinand Habsburg is Austrian royalty – but he’s also a motorsport driver. And he’s on the hunt for the next Lewis Hamilton with the launch of his fan-backed Rebel Team.

“I know the challenges behind funding young drivers, the prices have doubled or nearly tripled in some cases to get into motorsport when I was there,” he told Express Sport.

“That can mean talents never get to show themselves and fans get really annoyed by that.

“The story of [Nicholas] Latifi could become something you can hate on as a fan, but you’d love to be part of a community where you can bring in somebody who deserves it more.

“Not to say Latifi doesn’t deserve it, he’s a nice guy, but that kind of influence would be something special.”

Horner ‘not happy’ with Perez

Ted Kravitz has suggested Christian Horner was not fully truthful on Sky Sports F1 after Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez nearly clashed at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Speaking on Ted’s Notebook, he said: “Christian Horner was having a look at it on his replay monitors with Jonathan Wheatley before he came and spoke to us.

“Horner wanted to understand exactly what was going on with Verstappen and Perez. Kind of looking at it again.

“Then he had his view, he didn’t share his view with us Christian Horner, he just said ‘oh well, they sort it out themselves’.

“He rather dodged the question, maybe I should have pushed him harder on it but I doubt he would have told me it. The politician’s answer perfected by Christian Horner, you’ll never get anything out.

“He’s obviously not happy but he’s not saying anything.”

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Mercedes fans back Wolff

It was not just Toto Wolff who thought that Max Verstappen compromised Lewis Hamilton’s sprint shootout lap yesterday.

So too did many F1 fans, who at the time wanted to see Verstappen penalised for the incident.

@HPP7Strat2 fumed: “I’m sorry but are you serious? Max has FINISHED his flying lap, he decides to race Lewis into T1, and then he blocks him at the apex and on the racing line, you see his lights flash so you know he’s harvesting. Not even an investigation. What a joke.”

Max gets snappy with reporter

Max Verstappen got frustrated with an F1 reporter in the post-sprint race press conference.

He and Sergio Perez faced several questions on the fact the Red Bull duo almost got into a tangle at the start of the race with the Dutchman ultimately winning the battle.

One journalist pointed out that on another day, they might have compromised their P1 and P2 result.

But Verstappen hit back: “It might’ve, but it didn’t… We don’t need to make this a big story. It’s what happens sometimes. We talk about it, we clear it and it’s fine.

“That’s how human beings work. Sometimes you question, you answer, solve it, done.

“You don’t need to write a whole article about it. I hope. Or maybe you can, to get the clicks, if you want.”

Perez then chimed in: “The race was boring so this might be the story! Make a big article about it.”

Verstappen accused in Hamilton row

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has accused Max Verstappen of plotting ‘revenge’ against Lewis Hamilton.

The Red Bull driver held up Hamilton in the sprint shootout which ultimately played a part in the Briton being eliminated and starting the sprint race way down in P18.

Verstappen did not face any punishment after having earlier complained on team radio that Hamilton had first impeded him.

And Wolff said: “The communication between us and Lewis didn’t give him the right information to get out of Max’s way.

“I think no one wants to be in anybody’s way because if you impede, you’re getting penalised, so that was not the aim.

“On the other side, Turn 1 was a revenge foul [by Verstappen]. It was just to make sure that his [Hamilton’s] lap was ruined.

“So one was not intentional, the other one was intentional – but who cares? I think they’re going to talk about it at the drivers’ briefing next week.”

Good morning!

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