Toto Wolff admits ‘catastrophic’ mistake that cost both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell their podiums at Dutch GP
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell supposedly had a disappointing outing in Zandvoort, Toto Wolff speaks on what went wrong
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The Silver Arrows supposedly had a disappointing Dutch GP with Lewis Hamilton finishing in P6 while George Russell had a DNF after his on track collision with Mclaren’s Lando Norris. The famous Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted to his team’s lacklustre performance in a post-race interview.
The German outfit decided to stay on track amidst the oncoming rain in the first few laps of the race. A decision heard on Hamilton’s radio, “We’re going to stay out, we’re going to have to brave this” being the reply to number 44’s remarks about pitting onto the rain tyres. Wolff commented upon this decision. He said, “We got it catastrophically wrong by staying too long on the track. Russell was at Max’s pace and Lewis was just as fast. We could have been ahead if we had done it right.”
Hamilton and Russell both voiced their upset in the interviews following the race, with Russell claiming that they lost out on the podium they projected. Still, Mercedes’ disappointment stems from the fact that they believed to possess Podium pace this weekend and even with the Grand Prix not going their way, this may provide a hope for the entire team to seek better results in the upcoming races, Ferrari’s home GP at Monza being the next.
A look into George Russell’s radio rant at the Dutch GP
After starting at Zandvoort in P3 due to a fantastic qualifying session on Saturday, the British driver sustained a DNF in the Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver conveyed his dismay over the radio while during the on going race, while being outside of the point scoring positions.
“I was forecast for a podium? F**k, How did we mess this up” was the Radio call. The Mercedes driver did not get off the line perfectly at the race start and the team’s decision to stay out on slicks while the rain arrived marred his Grand Prix with more problems. Russell incurred damage on his car in the later stages of the race in an collision against Lando Norris in Turn 11 and eventually had to retire his car scoring zero points.
Russell explained in a post-race interview that the team projected for the rain to stay for 2 mins rather than the 10 minutes that it did end up staying leading to the team’s decision. The Brit, currently in his second season with the Silver Arrows, also mentioned that there are a few good takeaways to carry onto the remainder of the season. What’s left to see if how Russell lines up with his Mercedes in Monza in a week’s time.
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Riddhi Mondal
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