Lewis Hamilton shocked by Red Bull’s superior speed: “It’s crazy!”

Lewis Hamilton finished fifth in qualifying for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, finishing 0.589 seconds behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen from pole position. His teammate, George Russell, finished third, less than a tenth of a second behind.

Verstappen has been clearly superior at the Red Bull Ring so far – he proved that on Saturday with a dominant win in the Sprint Race and with his performance in qualifying for the main race, having done the same in qualifying for the Sprint yesterday.

The superiority displayed by the RB20 surprised Hamilton. Quoted by RacingNews365.com, the veteran British driver acknowledged its inferiority to Red Bull, despite the Mercedes W15 being at its best:

– Changes for qualifying, the car was better, no major issues. We are way below Max (Verstappen) in the high-speed corners, way behind. It’s crazy how much faster they are in the high-speed corners. I think they are about 12km/h or 13km/h faster. We just don’t have enough aerodynamic downforce. We didn’t compromise, it was just all we had.