This archive report was first published on 11 July 2020.
At the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria, a puzzled Lewis Hamilton expressed his frustration over his team's inability to explain his loss of speed in practice sessions.
Hamilton, a six-time world champion, had topped all three sessions last weekend but struggled to find his footing this weekend, finishing sixth in the second practice session.
Team boss Toto Wolff admitted that Mercedes were 'in the dark' as they worked to find the solution to a delicate handling issue that has undermined Hamilton so far this weekend.
With torrential rain forecast to wash out qualifying on Saturday, many teams were preparing on the basis that Friday's second session result may create the grid positions.
Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who won last Sunday, had no problems Friday and was second behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen on the possible provisional grid.
Hamilton was six-tenths of a second adrift of Bottas in FP2 and said his car 'felt quite far off', adding that 'there's more work needed in the background to try and figure out why.'
Wolff expressed his concern over Hamilton's struggles, saying 'we are still feeling a little in the dark, especially with Lewis's time, because there is a problem with the car. What is it? If only we knew.'
