Lewis Hamilton is hoping to work collaboratively with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc to beat polesitter George Russell in the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver took his fourth pole of 2026 at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday, pipping Leclerc with Hamilton lining up in third ahead of Russell’s stablemate Kimi Antonelli.
Ferrari exceeded expectations in qualifying after lagging significantly behind Mercedes in practice, but its drivers benefitted from setting their lap before Max Verstappen’s late crash.
That forced provisional polesitter Antonelli to abort his final lap, while Russell managed to just sneak his in, so the Scuderia is aware that it still holds a pace deficit to the Silver Arrows.
It is for said reason that Hamilton is hoping to team up with Leclerc to topple Russell, with a two-stop strategy on medium and hard rubber looking optimal for Sunday’s hot race.
The seven-time world champion said: “This weekend we’ve not been confident that we could fight for a win. These guys have been six tenths quicker than us most of the weekend.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Eric Le Galliot
“We closed the gap overnight, but we still are three tenths down, or two-and-a-bit tenths down, today. It’s going to be very tough to challenge them tomorrow, but with a long run down to Turn 3, hopefully together we can.
“It’s great having Charles here as well, because we can hopefully work together in a strategy and try to apply pressure to them.”
So Hamilton is aware that the high-speed Austrian track will suit Mercedes more with its superior engine, making a repeat of his Barcelona win last time out quite unlikely.
But Russell knows that if his former Mercedes team-mate and Leclerc do work together, he’ll have a tough job of securing his second win of the campaign - particularly with championship leader Antonelli also on the second row.
“These guys are super-fast and it’s going to be a challenge having the two of them nearby,” said Russell. “We saw Lewis in Barcelona, how great his pace was.
“I think it will be challenging for them to overtake us in the straights because we’ve got the straight-line advantage, but they’ve got the advantage in the corners.
“And if they’re splitting the strategy or putting us under pressure, it may be difficult to hold on to. And, of course, Kimi is going to be super-fast.”
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Originally published by motorsport.com —
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