“It didn’t feel good today” - Lewis Hamilton unhappy with no improvements in Mercedes’ setup for the sprint race in Austria

Lewis Hamilton was unhappy with his performance at the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint. The Mercedes driver did not sync well with the W-15, and its set-up at the Red Bull Ring as he came home in P6, the same position he started the race from.

So far, Hamilton's outing in Austria has been underwhelming. The seven-time world champion had an average qualifying performance on Friday when he failed to break into the top five.

The Brit qualified in P6 after he lost control of his W-15 and went wide in Turn 1. This made him lose ample time in the final flying lap. Compared to him, teammate George Russell qualified in P4.

"Learnt a lot today. I mean, it didn’t feel good today," Hamilton said during the post-Sprint interview. "Obviously we didn’t change anything overnight so, very similar to [sprint] qualifying and out of balance so we’ll make some changes going into qualifying and hopefully get it a bit closer to its optimum."

Hamilton failed to gain a place despite pushing his teammate and Carlos Sainz's Ferrari throughout the race. In the end, Russell and Sainz finished the race in P4, and P5, respectively, keeping Hamilton at bay.

Max Verstappen claimed his third Sprint of the season with a thumping win over the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. This was the Dutchman's tenth Sprint win of his career.

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Lewis Hamilton eyes a good qualifying performance

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W15 leads Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari SF-24 during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 29, 2024 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Formula 1 is all set to have the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying later on Saturday. Following a grueling Sprint, the teams and drivers would get on the track to secure their places for Sunday's race.

Lewis Hamilton, who has not had a good outing so far, wants to change things around as he gears up for qualifying. Speaking about the same, the Brit told the media on Friday:

"What can I say? Practice was good and the car generally felt good, but I don't think we had the pace to get pole. But, yeah, very bad laps, every single one of them. I don't think overtaking is mega here, but we'll do our best. It's usually not such an eventful race, so I think the focus will be mostly on getting a better qualifying tomorrow."

Hamilton is in the P8 of the Drivers' Championship Standings with 73 points, 13 points behind his teammate George Russell after the same amount of races.