A big missed opportunity for Hamilton? ‘I probably would’ve been on the podium’

Hamilton recovered to finish 10th from starting 18th on the grid in the shorter, 24-lap race on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring.

The seven-time world champion was knocked out early in SQ1 after an incident with Max Verstappen.

Hamilton was backing off before starting his flying lap, while Verstappen was finishing his hot lap.

With Hamilton driving relatively slowly down the start-finish straight, Verstappen was able to overtake him into Turn 1, ruining his next lap.

It left Hamilton with a lot of work to do in the sprint, with a plethora of battles in the midfield.

After showing good pace earlier in the weekend, Hamilton thought he would have “easily” qualified inside the top five had the sprint shootout gone more smoothly.

“I don’t know. I think I was relatively quick this morning,” he said. “Should have easily been in the top five [in the sprint shootout] and in the race today, I probably would have been on the podium or close to the podium with the general pace that we had. 

“It wasn’t meant to be so we just enjoyed ourselves in the race. Lost a few points but it’s not the most important day today. We’ve got a lot learning, so hopefully we can take that into tomorrow.”

The good news for Hamilton is that he’s set to start the main grand prix on Sunday from fifth on the grid.

Assessing his prospects of a good result, he said: “I mean I am around the Ferraris which are quick and the Red Bull which is in its own league. 

“If I can try and hold onto the Ferraris it will be great but we will see.”