Lewis Hamilton way off the pace but Mercedes insist title fight with Max Verstappen is not over

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is adamant the title race is not over despite being totally eclipsed by Red Bull at Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton finished 35 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen to drop 18 points behind in the championship, with the Dutchman likely to extend that gap further at the Austrian Grand Prix at the same Red Bull Ring this weekend.

Wolff warned it was the slowest the team had been during his entire tenure but pledged to bounce back.

“What’s tough is that it’s been the first race in eight years where you’re just lacking the pace,” he said. “But this fight is not over. Even if we take another one on the chin next week [in Austria] we’ll take it. We then go to Silverstone and that’s a track we love.”

Wolff blamed the disparity in race pace on Mercedes’ decision to switch their focus to next year’s car with Formula 1 bosses having shaken up the rule book for the biggest regulation change in years.

Red Bull, in contrast, are still developing this year’s car, which appears to be giving them an increasing edge in both the drivers’ championship and the constructors, which they now lead by 40 points.

“They keep adding things,” he said. “It feels that they’re eking away at the power unit. We’ve just got to do the best out of what we have.

“But we are totally fired up. This is not a fait accompli. There are 15 races to go or whatever it proves to be and we’ll do the best we can. We will be winning races… and fighting back. But [on Sunday] we didn’t have the tools to win.”

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