Fred Vasseur admits Lewis Hamilton made a mistake fighting Max Verstappen at Austrian Grand Prix

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Fred Vasseur has been reflecting on why Lewis Hamilton finished a disappointing fifth in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Starting third, Hamilton and Ferrari looked like contenders to repeat their victory in Barcelona. But while he passed teammate Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, he couldn’t keep up with George Russell.

Hamilton soon came under pressure from Max Verstappen, and while he held off the Red Bull driver’s first assault, he lost out in the second stint after pitting before any of his rivals.

What went wrong for Ferrari at the Austrian Grand Prix?

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Fred Vasseur: Lewis Hamilton should have let Max Verstappen go

While Hamilton’s battle with Verstappen was spectacular and arguably the highlight of the race from an entertainment perspective, Vasseur told Sky Germany that it wasn’t necessary to lose so much time.

Verstappen rued the extended scrap after missing out on the race win by 1.6 seconds, while Hamilton ultimately dropped behind Oscar Piastri.

Vasseur thinks Hamilton and Ferrari mistakenly allowed Mercedes and Verstappen to dictate their strategy when they should have been focusing on McLaren and Isack Hadjar. Based on their pace – Charles Leclerc slipped to eighth in the sister car – fourth was their realistic ceiling.

“When you start in P2 and P3, you don’t expect a result like this,” the Ferrari team principal said. “I think we made a few mistakes today.

“The first is that we tried to fight against the Mercedes and against Max when we didn’t have the necessary pace.

• READ MORE: Lando Norris feels ‘sorry’ for Ferrari after what he realised watching them in Austrian Grand Prix

“We overreacted with the strategy, pushed the tyres too hard, and ultimately paid the price, also against McLaren. That’s a real shame, because we’re missing out on points in the championship fight.”

Hamilton felt a podium was the ‘bare minimum’ coming into the race, having adopted a championship mindset on the back of his Barcelona win. But this race raises fresh questions about Ferrari’s power unit, tyre management and ultimate competitiveness.