Toto Wolff defends ‘role model’ Lewis Hamilton over ‘furious’ rant in Monza
Toto Wolff has been a friend to Lewis Hamilton for more than a decade and is well aware of the winning mentality of Hamilton.
Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton (Via Imago)
Mercedes witnessed an upturn in its 2024 form when George Russell won the team’s first race in Austria. Since then, the German marque looked to be finally in its groove as they claimed two more wins in the next few rounds. However, this hope was lost after the summer break, as witnessed in Monza when Lewis Hamilton was infuriated by his qualifying, he lined up in sixth place for the Grand Prix. On the other hand, this attitude of the Brit was commended by Toto Wolff.
Lewis Hamilton began the ground effect era on the backfoot. The seven-time world champion struggled to score points while his teammate brought in wins and podiums. Though he has been able to overcome his deficit this season after winning two races out of the blue, the 39-year-old returned to his prior form again at Zandvoort and Monza.
While his teammate qualified P3, Hamilton qualified three positions back, making his chances of getting a podium slim. This led him to lament his Italian GP weekend and complain about his qualifying pace. Subsequently, Toto Wolff witnessed this and took charge to defend the Brit.
The Austrian elaborated that only a great world champion often reflects on his performances. Moreover, he claimed that he would use Hamilton as a role model for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in the future as he stated that being critical of their mistakes would help his drivers to grow.
He's been very strong with that, and also as a role model for George [Russell] or even for Kimi [Antonelli]. It's something that is important for the team, because we will be referring to that in the future, that the greatest of all time was the most critical when it came to analysing deficits or lack of pace.Toto Wolff said via RacingNews365.
Toto Wolff reveals why Andrea Stella has not enforced team orders yet
On the other hand, McLaren has been condemned for not having a winning mindset in the past few weekends. The English team has often been the fastest on paper but has won only three races this season. Moreover, its driver, Lando Norris, is in a title fight with Max Verstappen but has not been given priority in any race.
While the paddock criticized Andrea Stella for not taking rigid actions, Wolff explained why the Italian has maintained a distance from team orders.
He has that racers’ soul that doesn’t want to do it and wants to let them race but I think they are going to come to some conclusion after this race, how are we handling this? This is when we started to introduce the rules of engagement and then we changed the wording to racing intent because ‘rules’ was too harsh as a word for the drivers.
Toto Wolff said in a post-race interview as quoted by PlanetF1
The Mercedes supremo stated that Stella has the racer’s soul in him and likes the drivers to showcase their potential. However, he reckoned that the 53-year-old should not let his emotional senses take over and prepare a set of orders to aid Norris in the driver’s championship. The young Brit is the prime candidate to take away the title from the Dutchman.
As it stands, McLaren is on course to take the constructors’ championship lead in Azerbaijan. On the other hand, the points deficit in the driver’s championship is a larger one (62), which might take the fight to the final race in Abu Dhabi. Thus, the 2024 season is brewing to be one to remember for ages.
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Geetansh Pasricha
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