Hamilton, Leclerc bemoan tough start to Austrian Grand Prix weekend

SPIELBERG, Austria -- Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton described his driving as "disastrous" and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was left baffled after a tough sprint qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton qualified a disappointing sixth for sprint grid set on Saturday (Sunday, Manila time,) with Leclerc only 10th behind Max Verstappen's Red Bull pole-sitter.

"I wasn't in the mix at all, the whole session was pretty disastrous from our point of view," said Hamilton, who went wide and off on his first flying lap in SQ1.

"Practice was good, the car felt good, I don't think we had the pace to be on pole, but very bad laps.

"I don't think overtaking is mega here, but we'll give our best. It's usually not such an eventful race, so I think the focus will be mostly on getting a better qualifying tomorrow."

His team-mate George Russell qualified fourth.

Russell said he felt capable of challenging and believed Mercedes form endorsed a view that they are on the way back to becoming a more competitive force again.

A luckless Leclerc was mystified by his and Ferrari’s latest flop.

The Monegasque, who claimed an emotional home win at last month's Monaco Grand Prix, was classified 10th after failing to clock a lap due to a car problem as he exited the pit lane.

His Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, who is  leaving the team this year to be replaced by Hamilton was fifth.

"I don’t know what happened," said Leclerc, whose` Ferrari career has often been blighted by team errors or poor judgement.

"I was in the pitlane and then the anti-stall switched off.

"The team told me we would speak when I am back in the garage, but I came straight here and so I don’t know.”

As the cars began to leave the pitlane for their final flying laps to decide pole position, Leclerc pulled up to the side of the road to allow his rivals to pass.

He rejoined the action, but it was too late to allow him to complete a warm-up lap and cross the start-finish line before the chequered flag.

- 'Disappointing' -
As a result, he did not clock a flying lap time.

"We weren't looking super-strong, but definitely better than P10," he added.

"So it is a bit disappointing. We have to see what happened and try to have a