Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes it is "about time" the momentum in the 2017 Formula One title fight swung towards Lewis Hamilton following a difficult Austrian Grand Prix.
Hamilton has had to battle some bad luck in the last two races, with a loose headrest costing the Mercedes driver a near-certain win in Baku, while his hopes of bouncing back with victory at last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix were hit by a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
The triple world champion was unable to hook up a clean lap in qualifying and could only qualify third, leaving him eighth on the grid in Austria. Though Hamilton recovered to claim fourth in Sunday's grand prix, direct title rival Sebastian Vettel ultimately extended his lead over Hamilton in the world championship to 20 points -- the largest gap seen so far this season.
"In my opinion, Lewis had all the bad luck than you can have," Wolff explained. "We've let him down with the headrest, we've let him down with the gearbox. Now it's about time to fight back and hopefully that's going to happen in Silverstone.
"Generally I feel that he didn't have a great time most recently. He didn't have a great time in the race because he was suffering from the car and from the tyres. He didn't have a great time with the gearbox troubles, and with the headrest. It's about time that this changes, the momentum going in the other direction."
Hamilton cut a downbeat figure for much of the weekend in Spielberg but insisted any negative comments he may have made during the last two grands prix are purely a result of his determination to win this year's title. Wolff says he gave Hamilton a pep talk following the race, telling the Briton he should see his fourth place finish as "12 points won rather than lost."
"First of all, he wouldn't be as successful as he is if he wouldn't feel the pain as much as he does when he has a bad day when he loses. We had a chat, trying to see the positives and what I said is that it's 12 points won, rather than lost.
"I think in hindsight, it was important to take those points even if for him it feels like a loss. With Ricciardo it could've been a collision and it could've been a much wider gap to Vettel. It can't go much worse than it has, and still we are flat out in a fight."
Wolff also reiterated Mercedes will continue to back both of its drivers equally in the 2017 title fight, with Valtteri Bottas closing to 35 points of championship leader Vettel and just 15 behind Mercedes teammate Hamilton.
When asked how Mercedes will handle the situation, Wolff replied: "Like we've handled it in the past, with the difference that the dynamic between the drivers is completely different. For Lewis it was actually the best outcome that Valtteri wins the race rather than Sebastian. How many races have we done? Nine? Out of 20? So, we're not even at halftime and we start counting points."