“The car was really hard to drive today”: Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ struggles return as the 7x champion delivers painful radio message

Lewis Hamilton endured a tough weekend in Austria, finishing outside the points in the sprint race followed by a seventh-place finish in the main event. Heading into the weekend with two consecutive podium finishes, Hamilton and Mercedes were left baffled by their performance at the Red Bull Ring.

Hamilton had a great start to the race, as he put himself behind the Ferraris in fourth place. Lando Norris followed closely behind in the upgraded McLaren, tagging along with the available DRS. Norris complained about the Mercedes driver ahead of him breaching track limits on multiple occasions.

The McLaren driver succeeded in his appeals as Hamilton received a five-second time penalty. Hamilton's drive was derailed by the penalty as he lost position to Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso. He also kept complaining about the car, struggling to control the W14.

Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag behind Norris and Alonso as his race engineer congratulated him for getting to the end of the tough ordeal.

"Lewis that’s P7. Well done mate. Persevering. Sorry, it's a bit of a shit balance to start with," Bono said on the radio.

"Well done guys. Just great job with the pitstops. Sorry we couldn't get any higher. The car was really hard to drive today. Let's keep fighting," Hamilton replied.

Lewis Hamilton battling Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso

During the race, Lewis Hamilton's outrage on the radio was met sternly by Toto Wolff, who bluntly asked him to "drive the car." George Russell had a difficult outing in the other Mercedes as well, finishing behind his teammate in eighth place.

Mercedes will be looking to put the disappointing weekend behind them quickly as they prepare for the "big upgrades" to be introduced in Silverstone. With the overhauled W14, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will hope to be on the sharp end of the grid next weekend.

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Lewis Hamilton blasts on the radio after "bull****" calls from the stewards

Lewis Hamilton was one of the many drivers who received penalties for exceeding track limits in the Austrian GP. After being caught by Norris, Hamilton kept complaining about the McLaren driver, hoping to catch the attention of the stewards.

After receiving a penalty, Hamilton expressed his rage over the radio.

"Just have a look at those because some of those are bull**** calls," he said.

When trailing Sergio Perez, he had the same remarks for the Red Bull driver.

"This guy has been off every single time!," Hamilton said.

Hearing his driver's rage over the radio, team boss Toto Wolff took to the radio twice, asking the seven-time world champion to get on with the car.

"Lewis, the car is bad, we know," Wolff told Hamilton. "Please drive it!"