Toto Wolff reacts to Lewis Hamilton's US GP disqualification

F1 News

toto wolff on hamilton disqualification
23 October 2023 at 07:35
Last update 23 October 2023 at 07:54
39
  • GPblog.com

The contrast was immense. Shortly after the race, there was joy and probably relief at Mercedes: second place shortly behind Max Verstappen was proof that the drastic update had worked. Later in the day, disappointment followed. Lewis Hamilton had lost his second place because his floor had not passed inspection. It led to mixed feelings for Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

The glass half full or the glass half empty? In a nutshell, Wolff's message was. "We can take a lot of positives from the car performance today. We hate coming so close to winning and falling short. But this is a circuit where only a few races ago we wouldn't have performed well because of the fast, sweeping corners. The upgrade seems to have made the car happier in those areas and it is working well. Directionally, it's a very good sign."

Wolff wants to learn from disqualification

At the same time, the final standings do not show that Mercedes have improved so much in terms of speed. On Wikipedia, though, it is written that Hamilton lost his second place because of an illegal floor. "Turning to the race result and the disqualification, set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice - and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package. In the end, all of that doesn't matter; others got it right where we got it wrong and there's no wiggle room in the rules. We need to take it on the chin, do the learning, and come back stronger next weekend."

Mercedes didn't leave Austin empty handed. George Russell had a tricky afternoon at the Circuit of the Americas, but eventually finished fifth due to the disqualification of Hamilton and also Charles Leclerc.

GPBlog is now on WhatsApp. Click here to subscribe to our GPBlog WhatsApp channel now!