‘We tried something on Lewis’ car,’ Toto Wolff reveals the reason behind Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing qualifying run in Saudi Arabian GP


‘We tried something on Lewis’ car,’ Toto Wolff reveals the reason behind Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing qualifying run in Saudi Arabian GP

Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton

Disastrous is not the word that can be used to Lewis Hamilton’s Q1 run in Saudi Arabian GP yesterday as the 7 times world champion saw him finishing way down the pecking order at P16 where he will start on Sunday. With an underperforming car, the former champion has a lot to unpack before Sunday’s race.

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Now Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has come forth acknowledging that it is high time for the team to wake up on the situation as he explained that the team tried something new with Lewis Hamilton’s W13 which clearly didn’t work and got backfired as the world champion could find enough grip on the rear axle.  

“We tried something on Lewis’ car that did not work. He had zero grips on the rear axle. Time to wake up for us,” Toto Wolff told Sky Germany.

“It isn’t a single problem,” Toto Wolff says the W13 has more than one problem to find a solution for

Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff said that the car’s performance is unacceptable as he doesn’t see the position they are in right now as an option for Mercedes. He went on to explain that the car has a lower drag on the rear wing which they are yet to fully fix. Toto Wolff went on to add that the car has so many problems to understand and workaround to make sure the car works up to their expectations.

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It’s certainly totally unacceptable where we are on performance. We are third on the road, and sometimes not even that like today. It’s just not an option to stay where we are,” Toto Wolff said.

 “This car is tricky to set up. We had a lower-drag rear wing, took the Gurney off, but still, it wasn’t enough to shave more drag off the car, but generally, I would say it isn’t a single problem. We have many parts of the car that don’t work, that we don’t understand. They don’t perform enough, and this is not where we all expect the car to be,” Toto Wolff added.

Lewis Hamilton will hit the track on Sunday where another disastrous performance awaits him if Mercedes fails to equip him with a competitive car that can provide him the chance to fight for podiums in the coming weeks. A win is a long shot for Lewis in Saudi Arabia anyway so he will be hoping to at least get close to the Top 5 or finish in the top 10 before the chequered flag.

Also read: “It was unbelievable,” Sergio Perez delighted after taking pole in Saudi Arabian GP

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