Hamilton on high in Alps as British icons left with mountain to climb

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team will be hoping for more of the same at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.

After dominating last Sunday's French Grand Prix to claim his 65th career victory, the four-time champion arrives in the Styrian Alps with a 14-point lead in this year's title chase and a sense of reinvigoration thanks to his updated engine.

On another picturesque circuit with traffic access problems this weekend, where power will again be a major factor, Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas will start as favourites for Sunday's race, albeit reluctantly.

After a disappointing performance on one of Hamilton's favourite circuits, at Montreal in Canada, their French triumph came on a day when chief rival and fellow-four-time champion Sebastian Vettel experienced another of his periodic days to forget.

His opening lap collision with Bottas ruined both of their races and ensured Hamilton had a straightforward afternoon as he regained championship lead. He will do all he can to avoid a repeat.

Both Hamilton and Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff stressed after last Sunday's win that they can take nothing for granted in this yo-yo season, the Englishman saying he intended to stay grounded and to approach each race the same.

Wolff strove to play down any newly-perceived advantage in speed, thanks to the upgraded Mercedes engine.

"Do we have the best engine now?" he said. "Very difficult to say because when you look at the data, the quickest car on the straight was Kimi (Raikkonen of Ferrari), but we believe he was maybe running a different aero configuration.

He added that both Hamilton and Vettel have enjoyed 17 points leads already this season and forecast that their fortunes would continue to swing on a race by race basis.

"I think what you saw in Montreal in comparison to Le Castellet is that marginal gains matter," he added.

- Alonso frustrated -
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"Out of qualifying in Q1 with both cars and then both out of the points in the race. We need to raise our level for Austria and for Silverstone. We need to find solutions."
"Ideally, we would like a little time now to study the data and the produce new parts for the car, but there is no time for that so we have to try to do our best. I trust the team. I know there are some good things on the way for the next races, but now we are in the middle of a triple-header and we have five races in six weeks."