How much did damage cost Lewis Hamilton in the Austrian Grand Prix?

As I’m sure you’re aware, Hamilton suffered damage in the race and it cost him a place on the podium. He lost further ground to Max Verstappen in the championship, and an eighth world title seems to be slipping from his grasp.

Taking a look at Hamilton’s lap times, you can see exactly when things started taking a downturn, and it was after his first pit stop.

Comparing his lap times with Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton most certainly had the upper hand in the early stages. In fact, in the 29 laps before Bottas pitted, Hamilton had been quicker in 21 of them, excluding the laps completed under safety car conditions.

That shows that the Brit was more in tune with his W12, hence why he was running ahead of his teammate.

But then things changed.

How did Hamilton suffer damage? 

After the race, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed where he believed the floor damage came from. He said: "I think it was around lap 30, out of Turn 10 where there's a pretty aggressive kerb."

This would give an explanation to Hamilton’s sudden lack of speed, which was evident after he pitted on lap 31.

What happened after Hamilton pitted? 

Suddenly, the floor damage to Hamilton’s car became increasingly apparent. As mentioned, he was significantly quicker than Bottas before he stopped, but afterwards, it was a completely different story.

In the remaining 40 laps after Hamilton’s first pit-stop, he was quicker than Bottas on just six occasions, which is remarkable. That meant that Bottas was quicker than Hamilton in 41 of the 71 laps, despite being much slower in the early running; it truly was a nosedive in speed for the seven-time world champion. 

Compared to Norris, who overtook Hamilton for the final podium spot, the Mercedes driver was again comfortably leading the lap-by-lap pace before he stopped for the first time, but Norris was quicker on 35 of the final 40 laps. 

In fact, Hamilton only went into the 1:08s seven times in the race, and they all came after he pitted for a second time. By comparison, Bottas had 26 lap times in the 1:08s, whilst Norris had 30.

Overall, Hamilton’s lap times didn’t change too much over the course of the race, but the damage ensured he wasn’t able to get any quickly, unlike Bottas. Whilst Hamilton was often around four tenths quicker than Bottas per lap in the early stages, he was then four tenths slower per lap in the closing stages, meaning a swing of eight tenths on his teammate.

The damage to Hamilton’s car was clearly extensive, and whilst he was still quicker than the majority of the field, it will be concerning for Mercedes that damage from running over kerbs could cost them so dearly. 

It’s something they’ll look into before the British Grand Prix, which will provide a chance for them to start closing the gap to Red Bull.