Lewis Hamilton has denied that Mercedes are on the back foot as they look to wrestle back control in the championship fight with Max Verstappen and Red Bull.
Mercedes won the double-header in Austria last season – ending a period of dominance there by Red Bull since 2017 – and a return to form at their rival’s home circuit, the Red Bull Ring, would be the ultimate way to swing momentum back in their favour.
Hamilton starts the weekend 12 points behind his title rival having been outclassed in recent races.
But the seven-time world champion said ahead of this weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix: “I think that is a negative way to approach any race, to think you are on the back foot. We know how strong they are. There are three long straights here and we see how much they were taking out of us on the straights in the last race.
“It could be the same here, we will wait and see. But I come here with an optimistic approach that what we learned in the last race and what we have learned since then just in the three days will hopefully help us take a small step forwards. Even if it is 0.01 per cent, that is a step in the right direction.”
Hamilton delivered a rallying call at Mercedes’ team headquarters in Brackley this week as talks began over a new £40million-a-year contract to stay at the team beyond 2021.
On that deal, he said: “We are hoping to get it done much faster than we did last time. We don’t want to fall for the same trap.
“We are always talking about not wanting to do it mid-season because it can be a distraction but we’ve started it in a way that it’s light-hearted, it’s not intense, it’s not causing trouble.”
