Lewis Hamilton and George Russell only picked up small points in Mercedes’ awful performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix in the two F1 Sprint races.
After his Mercedes team’s terrible performance in the Brazilian Grand Prix, Toto Wolff was unable to control his rage.
After just one hour of practice during the last Sprint weekend of the season, the team’s car setups were obviously off. Their rear wings were excessively large, which caused the W14s to slow down on straightaways and to overheat the tires in corners.
Lewis Hamilton got off to a strong start that put him in third place, but he could only manage eighth. And when Mercedes cut their losses due to an oil temperature issue, George Russell did not even finish, trailing his teammate.
After the race, team principal Wolff spoke with Sky Sports and was frank in his assessment of the weekend. He was full of quiet rage. He called it “an inexcusable performance.” “To put it in words, there are none. Whatever we did to that car was awful because it finished second both the previous week and the week before.
“George and Lewis drove such a miserable thing that I can only feel bad for them. Lewis made it out there alive. Thus, it demonstrates how challenging the car is—it’sperilous. We need to improve it for next year because it is inconceivable that after seven days of podium finishes with a strong, fast car, you are nowhere.
“On Sprint race weekends, we are obviously not world champions. It’s finally finished, thanks to some excellent work here at the track, but it doesn’t explain why it went wrong. The vehicle handled as though it had three wheels instead of four.”
The team’s lone victory of the season came from Mercedes last year in Brazil. However, Wolff does not think it would be appropriate for the W14 to reach the top step of the podium in 2023 and does not think his team will be able to manage that.
He went on, “This car doesn’t deserve to win.” “We must persevere through the remaining two races, heal—I believe that’s the most crucial factor—and see what we can accomplish in Las Vegas, on an alternative course, and in Abu Dhabi. However, today’s performance was… I have no words.
“Straight line speed was one issue but probably not the main factor. I think the main factor was we couldn’t go around the corners with the bigger wing with the pace we needed and we were killing the tyres, just eating them up within a few laps.”
Hamilton’s result leaves him 32 points adrift of Sergio Perez in the drivers’ standings. It means he is still mathematically in the hunt for second place in the drivers’ standings, but realistically needs the Mexican to fail to finish both remaining races to stand any chance of toppling him.
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