General
Mercedes not without problems: "Had problems with that from the start"
- GPblog.com
Toto Wolff elaborated on the problems of Mercedes during the first Grand Prix of the season in an Austrian interview. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were no longer allowed to drive over the kerbstones and in addition two cars of customer teams fell away.
"To be honest, we had problems with durability from the beginning," says Wolff in conversation with ORF. The team boss of Mercedes states that Hamilton and Bottas were not able to get the maximum out of the car on Sunday afternoon. "Because of the suspension and gearbox we couldn't lock the race with both cars right after the start".
In order not to cause any further damage James Vowles spoe to both drivers of Mercedes about the onboard radio. "We did indeed tell them both to stay away from the kerbstones".
Williams and Racing Point see car drop out
Halfway through the race Mercedes decided to reduce the engine power. That was not without reason. "We did it because it wasn't quite clear what was going on with George Russell and Lance Stroll." Of the customer teams Racing Point and Williams, one car fell off the Red Bull Ring with apparently engine problems.