“Everything Is Fine”: Despite Lewis Hamilton’s Mounting Problems, Toto Wolff Issues Astonishing Confession to Cover Up Mercedes’ Issues

Mercedes has carried on its form of mixed results at the Canadian GP to the Austrian GP this weekend. In Montreal, Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in P3, but George Russell failed to finish the race. The pattern continued during qualifying in Spielberg, with Hamilton qualifying in P5 and Russell getting knocked out in Q2, qualifying in P11. Considering he’s starting Sunday’s race from the third row, Hamilton should’ve been happy with his qualifying result. But he wasn’t. 

Coming into the weekend, he had expected Ferrari to be better than his W14, but getting out-qualified by both Ferraris and the McLaren of Lando Norris wasn’t what he hoped for. Needless to say, he was disappointed. And when Saturday’s sprint day started, it got worse for Hamilton. The roles at Mercedes reversed, and George Russell became the leading Mercedes. While Russell began getting used to the track conditions in Austria (that haven’t suited Mercedes too much in the past), Hamilton struggled, and the struggles lasted the entire day.

Toto Wolff reassures Mercedes’ pace despite Lewis Hamilton’s woes continuing

In the Sprint Shootout, to set the grid for the Sprint, the seven-time champion got knocked out in the first part of qualifying. Track limits have proved costly in Austria this weekend, and Hamilton fell prey to them in SQ1. But that wasn’t the only problem. Given the track temperatures, he struggled to get heat into his tires. The compounded effect of both these set him up for an extremely underwhelming P18 start for the Sprint.

Much to Lewis’ dismay, the mixed results continued in the Sprint. What started in wet conditions ended in dry conditions. And Russell was the first driver to take the gamble to switch to slick tires. After starting in P15, he finished the Sprint in P8, scoring 1 point. While Hamilton followed suit in changing tires, he recovered only to P10. 

After the Sprint, though, Toto Wolff talked to the media about the car’s Sprint performance and race pace. He said, “Perfect call. All credit to them. Brilliant pit call for slicks.” He added that Hamilton had tire warm-up problems in the Sprint as well, which hindered him from gaining any more positions. But overall, Wolff is pleased with the car’s pace. He exclaimed, “The car had pace, everything is fine!” 

While Toto believes Mercedes has the pace, Hamilton still isn’t convinced. But if he needs to feel better about his chances in the race tomorrow, veteran F1 journalist Peter Windsor confirmed Mercedes’ race pace.

Read More: “Forever Sabotaging Him”: Mercedes’ Blunder Destroys Lewis Hamilton’s Sprint to Trigger Backlash From F1 Fans

Windsor feels Lewis Hamilton has nothing to worry about

While talking to the media after qualifying yesterday, Hamilton wasn’t quite sure about the Mercedes’ pace even after qualifying in P5. While P5 is a good position to start the race, he was more concerned about the W14’s long-run performance. He felt that the Red Bulls, Ferraris, and Aston Martins had better race pace than him. But Peter Windsor begged to differ.

In his YouTube live stream after the qualifying, he explained that, according to the data gathered in FP1, Hamilton had the third-best top speed and the second-best long run lap time. He concluded, “Lewis Hamilton, if he’s a bit depressed about his grid position, should be delighted with how good that car was on the long run today. The Mercedes seems to be really good with fuel in the car.”

Will Lewis Hamiton’s long-run pace help him achieve a podium tomorrow?

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