Hamilton “deserves better” from Mercedes - Wolff
Hamilton “deserves better” from Mercedes - Wolff
Toto Wolff declared Mercedes must pull together to give Lewis Hamilton a car that he deserves after the former world champion was lapped by Max Verstappen at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Mercedes team principal personally apologised to Hamilton for the performance of the W13, which struggled with porpoising on the straight and lacked the straight-line speed to allow Hamilton to climb up through the field from 14th.
Although Hamilton progressed one position by the chequered flag, this was due to a five-second penalty suffered by Esteban Ocon after the Frenchman made contact with Hamilton in the pit lane.
Wolff conceded: “The car was undrivable in the way it was undrivable before. You see the straight, the bouncing on the main straight. I wonder how the two of them can even keep the car on the track at times.
“Lewis deserves better from us, but we are a team so we all need to do the utmost in order to provide him with a machine that is able to fight for front positions.”
Wolff - Hamilton simply got stuck
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell managed to make the most of a difficult weekend, getting off the line well from 11th on the grid and climbing up to finish fourth behind the two Red Bulls and the McLaren of Lando Norris.
Meanwhile, Hamilton suffered the embarrassment of being shown a blue flag to allow past his former rival Verstappen after finding himself stuck in a DRS train behind Pierre Gasly.
“If you see when there is a DRS train, none of them could overtake," explained Wolff. "You are boxed in in a train of cars, it’s just almost impossible to overtake.
“Lewis had much more pace than Albon or Gasly or any of the other cars in front of him but there is one DRS straight and if you haven’t got the straight-line speed you cannot pass. Lewis was just stuck there in the back.
“Both drivers are doing the utmost and out-performing the car at the moment and we have seen that reaping the results for George, who did an outstanding race, a perfect start and handled a car that wasn’t tuned optimally.”
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1 News Today: Red Bull star set to QUIT team as F1 legend reveals flood of death threats
- 38 minutes ago
Audi agree STAR driver contract as Mercedes driver tipped for new F1 seat THIS season - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
Ferrari show off new-look drivers following HUGE announcement
- Yesterday 22:57
McLaren leading fight for HUGE cash injection
- Yesterday 21:57
Newey set to announce STUNNING Red Bull departure
- Yesterday 17:57
Newey Red Bull exit wish CONFIRMED as F1 guru's reasons revealed
- Yesterday 20:57
Related news
Italian F1 icon Formulino dies at the age of 16
Hamilton praises fellow F1 driver for ‘leading by example’ following Imola heroics
Monaco GP delay? Ferrari boss weighs in on fears after Imola F1 cancellation
F1 Today: Imola latest and what it means for 2023 race calendar
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