Lewis Hamilton blames his clutch after coming second to Nico Rosberg in Austria
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Updated 22/06/2015 at 14:38 GMT
Lewis Hamilton says his clutch was to blame after losing to Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the Austrian Grand Prix.
(L-R) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team's British driver Lewis Hamilton (2nd), Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team's German driver Nico Rosberg (1st) and Williams Martini Racing's Brazilian driver Felipe Massa (3rd) celebrate after the Austrian Formula One Grand Pr
Image credit: AFP
Hamilton started from pole on Sunday but made a slow start and was passed on the run to the first corner by Rosberg, who dominated the rest of the race.
Hamilton, who finished second by eight seconds, said: "I did everything I was supposed to do but the clutch keeps under-performing.”
After a run of poor starts the world champion said that it was “something we need to work on” and that the problem began after his Mercedes team made changes to the clutches ahead of last month's Spanish Grand Prix.
The clutch springs were switched back to the specification they used in 2014 because they gave more reliably consistent starts than the type used in the first four races of this season.
"Since then I have been having bad starts," Hamilton continued. "Nico was having bad starts and then they changed everything and now he is having good starts and I am having bad starts. It's just the way it goes."
The 30-year-old added: "It's disappointing when the car just doesn't get off the line fast enough and there is nothing you can do about it on a track like this where you just can't overtake unless you're much faster."
However, the Briton did concede that he needs to pick up his speed.
"Nico was quicker today and I need to work on that," Hamilton said.
"Positioning is everything here. If I kept the position I worked hard for yesterday, I would have been able to maintain it, but that was out of my hands at the start so I am going to try to work as hard as I can to rectify it."
Rosberg, who is now just 10 points behind his British team-mate, said: "Last year, the race craft was where Lewis had an edge on me and I had to improve on that and this year it is coming good.
"Especially today it was one of the easier wins, not having pressure from Lewis behind. It was great to see I had the pace advantage over him."
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