Mercedes apologise to Hamilton after throwing away Austrian GP win

Mercedes will be leaving Austria with a multitude of things to think about, mainly why they didn't pit Lewis Hamilton under the virtual safety car, a strategy call which Red Bull's Christian Horner couldn't understand in the slightest.

Having led from the opening lap with a move on teammate Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen, the Briton looked set for a comfortable drive into the distance until Bottas' gearbox failure brought the virtual safety car out.

Mercedes chief strategist came over the team radio to apologise for the mistake, taking full blame for the decision.

"Lewis, it's James. We can still win this mate. It's my mistake, give this what you can."

Both Red Bull and Ferrari double-stacked their drivers, cutting into Hamilton's lead and meaning when the Mercedes did eventually pit, he would lose the race lead. 

Red Bull team principal Christain Horner couldn't understand the thinking behind not pitting their man. He told RTL "I didn't understand why Hamilton didn't come in"

Matters only got worse for Mercedes when Hamilton was asked to pull over with a loss of power, ominous for the team after they had introduced spec two of their engine just recently.

Pole-sitter Bottas was out of the race early on, a hydraulic failure forced his race into a premature end.

They won't have long to dwell on the errors, Silverstone is under a week away.