Formula 1: Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton ‘Dejected’ after Azerbaijan Loss

If there was one chance for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton to get back on the top of the Constructor’s and Driver’s Standings, it was in the last two laps of Azerbaijan grand prix. After Max Verstappen’s hideous tyre blowout, Silver Arrows had all to fetch in Baku City Circuit. Yet it all came down to a rare mistake by the 7-time World Champion. 

Upon the restart, Hamilton unwittingly knocked the ‘magic’ switch that dramatically adjusts the brake bias forwards. Although briefly stealing the lead from Sergio Perez, the Mercedes driver was helpless as his brakes locked and he slid into the turn one run-off. 

Toto Wolff reveals the entire Mercedes Team along with Lewis Hamilton are disheartened after Azerbaijan Loss

“Both of us are destroyed to be honest,” said Wolff. “But it is, for him obviously as a driver. 

“You have it so close and then it’s all gone and for me as a guy who is running this, we just need to be the best of us, the best that we have and we haven’t given the drivers a competitive package this weekend. Far from a competitive package. 

“That is the frustration, it is not only the incident at the end that frustrates, it is overall not meeting our own expectations, all of us together – Lewis, the engineers, myself, everyone in the team.” 

Over the past seven years, Mercedes has rarely experienced an off day, let alone a pair of consecutive forgettable weekends, notably in Monaco where Mercedes was unable to remove the front-right tyre from Valtteri Bottas’ car.

“They are the toughest because not having performance in Monaco and Valtteri who would have made it solid onto the podium, needing a pit stop of 36 hours is not really a great achievement based on the standards that we are setting ourselves,” added Wolff. 

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