Martin Brundle left ‘staggered’ by extent of damage to Lewis Hamilton’s car in Austria

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Martin Brundle was left “staggered” after he saw the damage that Lewis Hamilton’s car suffered after his crash during qualifying at the Austrian GP. Both he and Mercedes team-mate George Russell had a frustrating Q3 that ended in crashes, as Hamilton hit the barriers at Turn 7.

“I think Mercedes got really unlucky with the amount of damage they got actually,” Brundle told Sky Sports F1. “Two gearboxes, and Lewis had to have a chassis change. I’m staggered by that. There’s usually a secondary issue to crashes like that. They have to get thrown back together, and sometimes there are then secondary issues.”

The positive for Mercedes was that they were able to recover both cars and get them back on the track, and both Hamilton and Russell even moved up a place following Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s nine-place penalty for leaving the track, despite Russell avoiding punishment for entering the track on foot.

“I’m so sorry, guys,” Hamilton said on his team radio before he got out of the car and walked away from his crash. “It was a big hit but I am OK,” he added after.

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“I am incredibly disappointed in myself ultimately and so sorry to the team who worked so hard to put this car together and I never like to bring it back damaged. I don’t have an answer. I lost the back end and that was that.

“I am encouraged for sure. I am encouraged of course to see our performance. We weren’t expecting it to be as close as that today. That is a huge positive from the team but I am really quite far back [for the Sprint Race] so I don’t know what is possible from there. Hopefully, I can make up for some lost time.”

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Mercedes have enjoyed an improvement in speed following upgrades they made at Silverstone, where Hamilton claimed a podium place. Russell has been praised for his consistency this season, but admitted he was concerned about his car.

“It’s definitely positive signs,” Russell said. “We know we’ve brought things to the car. Lewis was absolutely flying today, I think I probably went in the wrong direction with my setup for qualifying. I’m OK physically, I’m just concerned about the car for tomorrow.”

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff came to the defence of both his drivers after a disappointing end to Friday’s session. “These two should never beat themselves up because of this situation, crashing out,” Wolff said. “We’ve given them a car that wasn’t on par for ten races in a row and now we’re starting to come to terms and drive in front, it can happen that you just lose the car. I’d rather have a fast car and a qualifying like this than not having the pace to be in the top four.”

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