Lewis Hamilton puzzled by Ferrari anticlimax after 'dead set' prediction

Lewis Hamilton has explained his befuddlement at Ferrari's lack of pace in the Austrian Grand Prix after his "dead set" decision for a three-stop strategy.

From second and third on the grid with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton, Ferrari posted an eight-five finish respectively as the SF-26 suffered for performance in the blisteringly hot conditions at the Red Bull Ring.

Running third, having just been passed by Max Verstappen, Hamilton pitted earliest of the front-runners and opted to switch to a three-stop strategy. 

This placed him in traffic he could not escape later in the race, eventually finishing behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri in fifth - his worst result since sixth in Miami. 

Recalling the choice placed before him of a two or three-stop strategy in conditions reaching 60 degrees Celsius track temperature, Hamilton described how initially he was "dead set" on a three-stopper and even wanted to start on the soft tyres.

"I think that was pretty much it, for some reason we just lacked pace," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365.

"On Sunday morning, in the strategy meeting, they said: 'It's a two-stop, a three-stop is four seconds slower.'

"They gave us that information, and I was dead set that it was a three for me, because I thought the degradation was going to be super high, particularly as the track temperature was the highest we've had in a long time, mid 50s to 60-degree track temperature, so I thought the deg was going to be massive for us. 

"I wanted to start in a soft, but the team were nervous, and so we ended up, they pushed for us to start on the medium, which ultimately I think was sub-optimal. I think maybe we probably would have been around the same place, maybe could have got fourth, but it would have been a close one. 

"I started on the medium. I was very good with George, and then he just started pulling away. I was in the tow, but he was just eeking out a little bit on the straights, and then my rears went off very, very quickly. 

"Really, don't know why the balance was like that, but it was really tough to hold on to him, so we stopped early, went to the three, but then the soft later on wasn't so great. 

"It may not have been great at the beginning either, but at least it would have meant nice new tyres in the next two or three stints. But it is what it is. We got the best we could."