George Russell warned Mercedes had taken a step back after what team boss Toto Wolff branded a “bruising” Austrian Grand Prix.
Russell finished in seventh, a place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as both drivers struggled to extract any pace from the W14.
Hamilton made his frustrations clear over the race radio, which led to a rebuke from Wolff to focus on driving what proved to be a pig of a car, as Max Verstappen once again sealed the win.
Such was the Dutchman’s pace that he had enough time in the bag to make a late pit-stop for fresh tyres in order to get the bonus point for fastest lap and still finish six seconds clear of Charles Leclerc.
It led to a lot of head scratching at the Mercedes garages, and Russell was at a loss to explain why the team were so off the pace.
“I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of it, but we still have the same car as we had two races ago in Barcelona when we were flying,” he said. “So, the only thing that’s probably different is the tyres, something we need to understand.
“We took a big step backwards, and Lando [Norris] and McLaren were a big surprise for us. So, they clearly got it right. We have a fast car in certain circumstances. We just need to understand why we didn’t this weekend.”
Mercedes have just a few days to work out why they failed to perform ahead of next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
“It was a bruising day,” said Wolff. “We couldn’t make the car quick. I think we were equal with some of the good guys in the high speed, but the car was never in the right place. We suffered from all of the conditions, from understeer to oversteer. It was never any good.”
For Verstappen, it was a seventh race win in nine and extended his championship lead to 81 points. Leclerc, who led the race for a time and finished second for Ferrari, said Verstappen was in a race of his own.
“I’m not in Max’s race,” he said. “He’s in another one, all on his own.”
