JUST IN: Toto Wolff offers Mercedes theory after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ‘off…’ Read More.
Toto Wolff offers Mercedes theory after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ‘off…’ Read More.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expressed his bewilderment at the team’s underwhelming performance at the Dutch Grand Prix, following what had seemed like a promising return to form at the previous race in Belgium. Just weeks earlier, Mercedes had finished the Belgian Grand Prix with both cars crossing the line first and second, although George Russell was later disqualified. Despite that setback, the team had shown impressive pace at Spa-Francorchamps, hinting at potential progress in their pursuit of Red Bull’s dominance this season.
However, at Zandvoort, Mercedes seemed to take a step back, with both drivers struggling to replicate their previous success. George Russell managed to qualify in fourth place, but Lewis Hamilton faced a shock early exit in Q2 and started the race from 14th after also receiving a penalty. Despite climbing up the field during the race, Hamilton could only manage an eighth-place finish, while Russell dropped to seventh, both drivers struggling with tire degradation.
In the aftermath, Wolff admitted that he was unsure of the reasons behind the team’s performance struggles. He referred to the W15 cars as “surprise boxes,” noting that just a few weeks ago, they were strong contenders at Spa, with Russell initially finishing second behind Hamilton before the disqualification. Wolff emphasized that such a dramatic drop-off in performance was concerning and indicated that something significant must have played a role.
“I think the car, these cars, are sometimes a surprise box,” Wolff said. “We had six podiums in a row, and that doesn’t look like the car that three weeks ago was first and second. At least first on merit. You can’t really end up with a result like this without any major factor playing in it.”
Wolff explained that the team needed to analyze the situation thoroughly in the days leading up to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He suggested that various factors could have contributed to the disappointing results, including potential issues with the setup or new parts added to the car. He highlighted the possibility that something they engineered into the car might have negatively affected its performance.
“It’s something we need to analyze in the next few days to Monza. Was it because we put something on the car that didn’t help? Did we engineer something into the car that wasn’t good? How do you justify these swings in performance, that sometimes look really good one weekend, and then today, that was tons of degradation? Not very impressive,” Wolff added.
One of the potential culprits, according to Wolff, could be the floor upgrades that the team brought back to the car after removing them during the Spa weekend. Mercedes had introduced these upgrades at Spa but chose to take them off after Friday practice, as they weren’t satisfied with the data they had gathered. For the Dutch Grand Prix, the team decided to reintroduce the updated floor, but Wolff speculated that it might have contributed to the car’s struggles.
“I think it was two factors. We back-to-back tested the update kit on Friday, which at the end left us with not a lot of data. The update kit that we put onto the car in Spa on Friday, and then took off again. And then obviously with the lack of running, like everybody else, maybe we didn’t decide the right things for the car,” Wolff explained.
While Wolff acknowledged the importance of not jumping to conclusions too quickly, he made it clear that Mercedes would be closely examining the data in the coming days to identify any potential issues. Whether it was the setup, the track conditions, or the reintroduced floor upgrades, Wolff emphasized the need to uncover what went wrong.
“So hopefully we can sort it out until Monza and become competitive. But the swing in performance between P1, P2, and P7, P8, there’s a biggie in there. It’s not something that was a simple set-up decision in my opinion,” Wolff concluded, expressing hope that Mercedes could return to form at the upcoming race in Italy.
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