Toto Wolff claims Mercedes changed Lewis Hamilton’s engine due to expected ‘misery’ in Baku
Toto Wolff explains why Lewis Hamilton took an engine penalty after qualifying, which resulted in him starting from the pitlane at the Azerbaijan GP.
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Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)
Mercedes was seemingly on its redemption arc after winning three of the four races before entering the summer break. On the other hand, since then, the team has often found itself troubled with the car’s operational problems. One such problem was Lewis Hamilton taking up a new engine after qualifying, causing him to start from the pitlane at the Azerbaijan GP.
Team principal Toto Wolff has claimed that the penalty was a calculated risk as the race is notoriously difficult for overtaking. When the lights went out, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri maintained their positions, while other drivers clashed with each other to gain a place or two at the start.
This saw Carlos Sainz and George Russell fall down the field on lap one and had to make significant strides to regain their places in their second stints. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton salvaged a P9 finish from the race after starting from the pitlane.
Subsequently, Toto Wolff revealed that giving the Brit an engine penalty was part of the plan as there was a high chance that Hamilton would not have made up many places during the race from his original grid slot.
We decided to do the engine change here. We knew that it's going to be a race of misery because it's so difficult to overtake in Baku. There's two different philosophies, and we discussed it at length. One, you just swallow the pill here, because starting from P7, we don't know where that would have gone, and then doing it in Austin. But we feel that Austin is an opportunity, and so that was the decision. Right or wrong? I don't know, it was a close call.Toto Wolff said in an interview, as quoted by GPBlog
The Austrian explained that Baku was going to be a race of misery as it was quite difficult to overtake. Mercedes evaluated whether to take the penalty in Baku or Austin. The team reckoned that they had a greater chance of securing a huge haul of points in Austin, so they preferred to sacrifice the race in Azerbaijan, which worked out for them.
Mercedes explain why Lewis Hamilton had a tough race in Baku
While Lewis Hamilton finished in P9 owing to the two cars crashing ahead, his teammate George Russell secured another podium. Witnessing the stark difference in two drivers races, fans questioned why the 39-year-old was unable to make a charge up the grid.
Subsequently, Mercedes’ Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin elaborated that the seven-time champion had gotten stuck in a DRS train causing him to lose heaps of time.
Lewis' race was difficult as he kept bumping into DRS trains and just couldn't make it through them. The closer he got to the cars ahead the more tyre overheating he suffered with.Andrew Shovlin said in a post-race interview
The 50-year-old reasoned that the Mercedes driver kept getting stuck in DRS trains, which skyrocketed his tire temperatures. This, in turn, slowed him down to cool the tires and got stuck in a vicious cycle of heating and cooling the tires.
Hamilton was destined to not score any points but was saved by Nico Hulkenberg getting a puncture. Thus, the Brit’s weekend could have been even worse if he had not gotten lucky with the two crashing ahead and the Haas of Hulkenberg getting damaged.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(742 Articles Published)