Toto Wolff admits ‘dramatic setup change backfired’ on Lewis Hamilton’s car during Australian GP practice

Lewis Hamilton struggled in the second practice session on Friday and could only manage to be on P18 on the timingsheets.

Toto Wolff admits ‘dramatic setup change backfired’ on Lewis Hamilton’s car during Australian GP practice

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff (Credits: IMAGO)

Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous start to the Australian GP weekend. The seven-time world champion had a mediocre outing in the first practice session at Albert Park and finished in ninth place. However, the British driver had a woeful run in the second session, as the 39-year-old ended FP2 in P18. Now, Toto Wolff has admitted a crucial error on the part of the Mercedes garage which caused Hamilton’s poor runs.

Previously, the seven-time world champion had claimed his Friday outing as the worst in his career. Wolff revealed that the Silver Arrows had tried to experiment with the car setup for Albert Park. However, the team had failed to extract performance from its adjustments.

Well, we've achieved experiment but we haven't unlocked performance.
Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1

Moreover, Toto Wolff claimed that a rather dramatic setup change on Lewis Hamilton‘s car for FP2 backfired for the Briton. Although, the Mercedes team boss reckoned that the massive disparities in performance was the reason for trying different setups in free practice.

I think in the second session, we've gone through a quite dramatic setup change on Lewis, and that has massively backfired but this is why we're having those sessions.

The Austrian billionaire highlighted that the setup on George Russell‘s car had worked better. However, Mercedes was still struggling to get the maximum performance out of the W15. Despite some promising one-lap pace from the 26-year-old, Wolff mentioned that it was not a good place for the Silver Arrows.

On the other side [George Russell] it was a bit better, but we are lacking performance.

Toto Wolff expresses frustration over Mercedes’ struggles in F1’s ground-effect era

Mercedes had dominated Formula 1 in the Turbo Hybrid era. The Silver Arrows won eight consecutive Constructors’ titles between 2014 and 2021, along with seven back-to-back Drivers’ championships. However, the Brackley-based team has fallen behind Red Bull in the ground-effect era of the sport. With Lewis Hamilton not winning a single race since 2021. Although, George Russell took Mercedes’ last F1 victory in 2022 at Interlagos.

Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff (via IMAGO)

Toto Wolff admitted that there was no reason to deny his frustration amidst the team’s continued struggles. The Mercedes team boss acknowledged that the entire squad was frustrated as they were trying their best in all directions. The 52-year-old claimed that the Brackley-based team was yet to find the silver bullet to make progress.

If I would say that I'm not frustrated, it would not be the truth. Certainly we are [frustrated] because we're trying so much in all directions, but we don't seem to have found that silver bullet which helps get us in the right direction.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell might be set to have to a difficult Australian GP. The Silver Arrows will have one final practice session to make necessary changes before Parc Ferme. Certainly, Toto Wolff’s engineers would be working to find the right changes before Qualifying at Albert Park.

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