Wolff concedes to "many parts" that don't work after shock Hamilton exit
Wolff concedes to "many parts" that don't work after shock Hamilton exit
Toto Wolff has conceded Mercedes has "many parts of the car that don't work" that has left the team struggling to understand the W13 after Lewis Hamilton's shock early qualifying exit in Saudi Arabia.
For the first time since 2009, Hamilton failed to escape Q1 on pace alone, qualifying a wretched 16th in contrast to team-mate George Russell who starts sixth.
With Mercedes so far struggling to match Red Bull and Ferrari this season, Wolff's frustrations with the W13 are beginning to show.
"Generally, this isn’t a single problem," Wolff explained. "We have many parts of the car that don’t work, that we don’t understand, that don’t perform enough and this is not where we all expect the car to be.
“You can see between Lewis’ and George’s performance there were not huge set-up changes that were made.
"But they were dramatic enough to have consequences on the performance of the car, from going out in Q1 and making it solidly into Q3."
After the Bahrain Grand Prix, Wolff commented Mercedes would 'take a chainsaw' to the W13's rear wing to reduce drag for the Saudi Arabian weekend.
Explaining the action the team had taken in the week between races, Wolff added: “That is why this car is so tricky to set up and we had a lower drag rear-wing.
"We took the gurney off but still it wasn’t enough to shave more drag off the car."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Haas announce Hulkenberg EXIT as F1 star's new team confirmed
- 2 hours ago
F1 franchise welcomes return of INCREDIBLE feature
- 39 minutes ago
F1 News Today: Red Bull star set to QUIT team as F1 driver role CONFIRMED for 2025
- 1 hour ago
F1 team set to axe BOTH star drivers
- 1 hour ago
Red Bull to lose F1 MVP as true cost of Horner saga hits
- 3 hours ago
F1 pundit reveals the thing about Wolff that ANNOYS Horner
- Today 09:12
Related news
Red Bull F1 stars offer contrasting F1 advice to next generation
F1 pundit details GLARING Mercedes issue
Bearman reveals F1 LEGEND 'message' sent to him before Ferrari debut
Hamilton hug with Bearman and Tsunoda BLANKS Sky presenter – FIVE things you may have missed at the Saudi Arabian GP
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860