Mercedes: Hamilton made 'mistakes' in Austria

Jun.24 - Mercedes chiefs say Lewis Hamilton made a couple of errors in the recent Austrian grand prix.

One of them was when he clearly crossed the pitlane exit line, incurring a penalty.

And the other was at the start of the race, where despite launching off the grid from pole position, he was beaten off the line by eventual winner Nico Rosberg.

"I let the clutch out and it just underperformed," said the world championship leader. "It's something that I've been having since Barcelona -- before that I was having better starts."

At the same time, teammate Rosberg's starts have been generally better recently.

But Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says it is not right to suppose that the team has made technical changes against Hamilton's preferences.

"These changes are something that we decided together, with Lewis as well," he is quoted by Kolner Express.

Team chairman Niki Lauda, meanwhile, said Hamilton was simply upset at the "mistakes" he made at the Red Bull Ring.

Asked if his run of recent form is making Hamilton 'nervous', Rosberg said: "It would be nice if I'm making him nervous.

"That he went over the pitlane exit line made it a little easier for me. It was one of my easier victories. I had no pressure.

"I've won three of the last four races, which is awesome," he told Bild newspaper. "Now I can't wait until Silverstone -- only ten points behind Lewis!"

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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