Formula One champions Mercedes have let Lewis Hamilton down but there is still everything to play for, team boss Toto Wolff said on Sunday as the Briton fell further behind in the title chase.
Hamilton started eighth in Austria, thanks to a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, and finished fourth behind winning Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas.
The Briton won the same race last year.
Ferrariโs championship leader Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, extended his lead from 14 to 20 points after coming a close second.
At the previous race in Azerbaijan in June, Hamilton lost what had looked a certain win from pole position after having to pit to fix a loose headrest. He finished fifth, with Vettel fourth.
โIn my opinion Lewis had all the bad luck that you can have,โ Wolff told reporters.
โWeโve let him down with the headrest, weโve let him down with the gearbox. Now itโs about time to fight back and hopefully thatโs going to happen in Silverstone.โ
Silverstone, Hamiltonโs home British Grand Prix, is next weekend.
โGenerally, I feel that he didnโt have a great time most recently. He didnโt have a great time in the race today because he was suffering from the car and the tyres, he didnโt have a great time with the gearbox troubles and the headrest,โ said Wolff.
โSo itโs about time that this changes, the momentum goes in the other direction.โ
Vettel and Hamilton have both won three times this season, and scored points in every race, but Hamilton has been less consistent.
The triple world champion has finished off the podium four times in nine races, with a low of seventh in Monaco, while Vettel has only twice failed to make the top three โ in Canada and Azerbaijan.
If he cut a somewhat dejected figure afterwards, he explained that some days felt more painful than others because of what might have been and the effort expended on damage limitation.
โOf course itโs a hit,โ he said of the points lost to Vettel. โTwenty points behind is 20 points. Itโs not great. But it could have been 30 today.
โI donโt think thereโs a call for me to do anything else than Iโm already doing,โ he added. โItโs not like the team arenโt on my side or theyโre not working hard or Iโm not pushing them hard enough.
โI just have to keep driving the way I have been and hope things get better.โ
