Cracks beginning to appear in Wolff/Hamilton relationship. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton continue their extended farewell which will climax in December, but only as another failed season. With Hamilton leaving for Ferrari next year as the season progresses he will find himself increasingly marginalised particularly when it comes to matters relating to the development of the car.
The relationship between Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton has been strong over the years, yet following Lewis’ bombshell news it seems to be showing signs of cracks.
Hamilton criticises Mercedes strategy
Explaining how he’d reacted to Hamilton telling him he was leaving for Ferrari, Toto admitted: “The timing hit us a bit,” and that he would discussing this with Hamilton particularly in light of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc having signed new deals in the days preceding Hamilton’s big news.
“A few contracts have been signed a few weeks ago that we would have looked at, that would have been interesting,” noted Wolff.
Last time out in Japan, a frustrated Lewis Hamilton criticised the Mercedes strategy which saw him trail home in P9 for just a couple of points. “The hard tyre was pretty bad as I said,” claimed Lewis. “The medium tyre was much better – so for sure in hindsight it looks as though we should have had two [sets of] medium tyres.”
Mercedes had retained two sets of new hard tyres for their drivers in Suzuka, while Ferrari and others had opted for the medium compound as their preferred race tyre. With hindsight Lewis believed this to be the wrong decision.
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Wolff blames drivers for poor 1st stint
However, Toto completely contradicted his once star driver claiming the Mercedes car had enough pace to make a podium during the Japanese race. Further he suggested it may have been driver error contributing to an “atrocious first stint.”
“We had a second and third stint that was super quick and we would’ve been racing for a podium but [for] an atrocious first stint,” Wolff told Sky F1. “We need to find out what it was, was it too hot, were we over managing?”
Mercedes arrived in China with minimal expectations and in free practice one could only manage P17 and P18. Yet with a 60% probability of rain in the afternoon’s Sprint qualifying Lewis Hamilton admitted his excitement levels were high. The seven times champion was sitting pretty in a wet SQ3 having clocked the fastest time in the falling rain.
The stewards then reinstated a time they had deleted for Lando Norris because his track limits violation did not in fact improve his time at all. Hamilton was bumped down to second on the grid for tomorrow’s sprint with Lewis negative about his chances unless the session is also wet.
Hamilton ‘no chance’ if its dry
Lewis explained he was “excited” by the wet conditions because he believes the Mercedes car is uncompetitive in the dry. “It was very tricky. Not a lot of grip for everyone but I’m so happy,” Hamilton told Sky F1.
“As soon as I saw the rain coming I got excited because in the dry we were not quick enough, so when the rain came I thought we would have a better opportunity and that’s when it came alive.”
Hamilton again reiterates his hopes for the Sprint depend on the weather levelling the playing field again. “It really depends on what the conditions will be. If it’s like that [wet], we will have a chance of being somewhere up there,” added Lewis.
“If it’s dry, the Ferraris and Red Bulls will come by but maybe we can hold off some of the others.”
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Wolff says W15 has pace in dry
Unlike his team mate, George Russell timed his runs badly in SQ2 and as the rain came in – his time was not quick enough to progress to the top ten shootout.
Toto Wolff’s assessment of the session exposed he had a completely different perspective from Hamilton as he backed the the pace of the W15 in both wet and dry conditions.
“The driving is most important in the wet but I think it shows it’s about tyre preparation,” Toto said after the session. “We did the right thing on the final run. The tyres were in the sweet spot, combined with great drive at the right time.
“I think we should have the pace in the dry.” Wolff dismissed the notion that his drivers could complete with the Red Bull pairing but admits the lack of data from just one practice session meant a proper assessment of how they were placed against the competition was tricky.
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Russell rues SQ2 exit
Wolff and Hamilton are definitely not on the same page as they once were and as the season progresses further cracks will become evident. As much as Wolff can bask in the glory days Hamilton brought to Mercedes, his personal wealth now depends on him finding the right replacement and giving Russell the backing to believe he can lead the team.
George Russell has out qualified Hamilton 3-1 this season prior to China but the Brit admitted to being frustrated by failing to make it into the final ten.
“It wasn’t easy at all. There was basically one lap in Q2 we tried sending it as soon as we could, but got stuck behind 12 cars in the pit lane.
“I lost my tyre temperature and it was close. One tenth and you were four or five positions higher. Obviously its just a shame to be on the bottom end of that, but we’ve got a chance to recover it in the Sprint race.”
Track condition surprised all the teams
Russell revealed the resurfacing of the track had caught out all the F1 teams. “The grip is really low here compared to what we were expecting. I think the lap times are 3 or 4 seconds slower than anticipated, there’s no other junior series here to help rubber the track in, so everyone is slipping and sliding around.”
When asked how he saw the race tomorrow panning out, Russell shrugged.
“We’ve only run the hard tyre in practice and just two laps in qualifying on the medium, its really quite challenging to judge. But as I said we’ve got another chance tomorrow, maybe makes some tweaks overnight, see how we go.”
“Strange” Shanghai track as Verstappen predicts chaos
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After half a decades absence, Formula One returned to China in spectacular fashion. In the Friday morning practice session the form guide was turned on its head as Max Verstappen could only manage the third quickest time behind Oscar Piastri and the surprise of the day being Lance Stroll fastest in his Aston Martin.
The teams were cautious of the new painted track surface which appears for now to have reduced the grip available at the Shanghai International Circuit. Sergio Perez was fastest in SQ1 but his time was some 3.5 seconds slower than when the teams last qualified here in China…. READ MORE
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