Lewis Hamilton finished fourth at the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort, narrowly missing the podium, while Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted the team cannot compete financially with its championship rivals.
The Zandvoort race was the first after Formula 1's summer break. McLaren's Lando Norris took victory, with Kimi Antonelli, who leads the driver's standings, finishing second. George Russell took third, while seven-time world champion Hamilton crossed the line in fourth. Red Bull's Max Verstappen crashed at high speed at the end of the first lap, prompting a red flag.
Mercedes financial admission
Wolff claimed Mercedes cannot compete financially with their rivals, having had fewer new parts than Ferrari and McLaren so far this season. Mercedes won the first six races of the season, but Ferrari and McLaren have each scored two wins in the subsequent six races following upgrades to their own cars.
Wolff said: "We haven't got the money to put developments on account. We are trying to evenly split that through the season, based on our calculations of when we can bring the biggest updates and optimising the championship points."
He added: "But we just can do what we can do. That's why it is a development race. If you bring an upgrade, each of the top teams will have a couple of 10ths in it, at least. And that's what you lose. So, yeah, the ride has been a bit tougher than at the beginning of the year."
All F1 teams are subject to a £170m budget cap. Mercedes' next big upgrade is not due until the Bahrain Grand Prix in early October. Wolff added: "You will see how towards the end of the season (whether) they are going to be able to deploy as much stuff on to the car as they do now. Someone might have a different strategy in spending more at the beginning and in the middle of the year than towards the end."
Hamilton hits out
Hamilton urged his team to avoid simple errors if they are to challenge for the title this season. He voiced frustration over team radio during the Dutch Grand Prix after being held up by teammate Charles Leclerc toward the end of the race, who finished fifth.
The result means Hamilton has lost ground on Antonelli, with the 40-year-old level third in the driver's standings, level on points with Russell, who is second. Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: "The guys in the garage did a good job with pit-stops and strategy was generally very good."
He added: "We're just chipping away at it. This first half of the season, we've lost three to five tenths on the straight; that's a hard deficit to overcome. Today was definitely frustrating for me. I'm here to win and I believe this team can win but to win championships, you have to pick up every possible point."
"Today, I lost several seconds behind Charles which would've made the difference at the end. We'll take it offline and my goal is to lead this team to the championship. We've got some work to do for sure."
"We definitely need to hit the ground running [in Monza] in terms of execution," Hamilton added. "I hope our pace is a bit better, hope we'll be able to do well. Hopefully fighting towards the front… it would be something special."
