Despite Lewis Hamilton’s Rejection, Mercedes Mastermind Digs Up “Unfortunate” Controversy to Defend Dutch GP Catastrophe

F1 isn’t just about the car or the driver. It’s a team sport. Only when individuals work as a team is when results are obtained. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton however seemed to be on different wavelengths at the Dutch GP. Mercedes mastermind recently dug up an unfortunate controversy to save the Brackley stable’s face despite Lewis Hamilton’s rejection. Who is this mastermind and what did he say? 

Whatever could go wrong for Lewis Hamilton at Dutch GP actually went wrong. The car’s balance was all over the place, he didn’t make it to Q3 and then the miserable race strategy was plagued with uncertain weather. While many factors were involved in Hamilton’s Q2 elimination, the Briton refused to blame Yuki Tsunoda for blocking him. Hamilton advised how he did two fast laps and it was the tires that were overheating.

Regardless, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin advised otherwise. As he advised on Hamilton’s having balance issues with the car, he pointed toward the traffic during Hamilton’s final Q2 lap as the reason for not making it to Q3. Shovlin also advised how the Brit was finding it hard to generate heat into the tires whereas Hamilton complained of overheating his tires.

According to @LH44_insights’ tweet that quoted Mercedes AMG F1, Andrew Shovlin said “Lewis was not particularly happy with his balance and finding it hard to build heat in the tires. Those trends continued into qualifying although Lewis was particularly unfortunate with the number of cars blocking him on fast laps; ultimately it was the lack of a clear lap that prevented him making the final session.”

Read More: Toto Wolff Shoots “Catastrophic” Statement After Lewis Hamilton & George Russell Suffer Painful Outcome

Both Lewis Hamilton and Andrew Shovlin seem to be on different pages. What both did agree on was the subpar result in the qualifying session. However, the discrepancy between Hamilton’s and the team representative’s comments continued even after the race.

Toto Wolff contradicts Lewis Hamilton’s statement

Lewis Hamilton had a miserable evening in the W14, a car with the potential of challenging for a podium at least. It was all down to the wrong strategic calls made by the team. During the post-race interview, Lewis Hamilton advised that it was the team’s call about staying out the extra lap or two. However, Toto Wolff believes it’s not one person but the team as a whole including the driver who made the decision. 

Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1, “We will review thoroughly and the situation is never one person or one department, it is the communications between driver, pit wall, strategy and then all of us take a decision – it was absolutely sub-par from all of us and that includes me.”

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What do you make of the contradictions between Lewis Hamilton’s statement and Toto Wolff’s statement?