Lewis Hamilton outlines key advantage in Mercedes pressure pursuit

Lewis Hamilton has outlined the key advantage of having Charles Leclerc at the front of the grid with him, as it creates opportunities to "apply pressure" on Mercedes.

Hamilton secured third on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix, ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli in fourth but behind George Russell and Leclerc in first and second respectively.

Across all three practice sessions, Ferrari did not appear to have the pace to challenge for pole but found significant speed in the closing minutes of qualifying.

While Russell secured pole by two-tenths of a second, it represented significant progress for the Scuderia, which had been six-tenths slower at the end of second practice on Friday.

It would appear Ferrari's upgraded internal combustion engine has delivered a small performance improvement, although top speed remains a challenge for the SF-26.

Starting third gives Hamilton a chance to take the fight to the Silver Arrows and push for back-to-back wins, with Ferrari now having the option of splitting strategies between its two drivers or even getting the duo to work together.

"I think this weekend we’ve not been confident that we could fight for a win," said Hamilton. "These guys [Mercedes] have been six tenths quicker than us most of the weekend. 

"We closed the gap overnight by three tenths, but we still are three tenths down, or two-and-a-bit tenths down. 

"It’s going to be very tough to challenge them, but with a long run down to Turn 3, hopefully together we can. 

"It’s great having Charles here as well, because we can hopefully work together in a strategy and try to apply pressure to them."