Wolff fully agrees with Verstappen after Hamilton's disqualification
F1 News
Toto Wolff agrees with Max Verstappen: the disqualifications of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were due to the sprint format. Consequently, Wolff would not have done anything differently in hindsight, he stated in Mexico.
The US Grand Prix ended with a big disappointment for Mercedes. After a handsome second place for Hamilton and race in which he even got close to Verstappen in the final laps, the Briton's car was disqualified. Asked if Mercedes took a risk in Austin, the Austrian is resolute.
Why it went wrong for Mercedes
"No. It’s the problem with the sprint races. We thought on Saturday that it could be on the limit, probably with a little margin. We have a new floor, more downforce. In the sprint, we didn’t run as many non-DRS laps which smash the floor more. The stars weren’t aligned,'' Wolff told Sky Sports.
Referring to the sprint format, Wolff appears to agree with Max Verstappen. The Dutchman argued earlier that Mercedes would not have done them on purpose. More teams would probably have been disqualified if more cars had been checked. ''That’s the feedback we got from other teams. They [drivers] are talking to each other. Also on a management level. Many teams were probably under the 9mm.''
The update played a role in the shelf wear under the floor. A positive sign that more downforce is being generated by the update, but wasn't it a big risk to introduce the update in Austin? ''I would take the same thing, take the disqualification because we got it wrong. I take a DSQ [whilst] running for a race win and seeing the performance rather than running P3 and being 25 seconds adrift. Every day of the week, I’d go for the disqualification. It’s specific to COTA, we are more cautious now we have the data.''
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21 September 2024
