Lewis Hamilton & Toto Wolff Contradict Each Other Over Dutch Disaster as Mercedes Descends Into Crushing Chaos

Oh, man! What is going wrong inside the Mercedes garage? Lewis Hamilton, along with being on the verge of being out of a contract for 2024, is now being asked to retire. A 22-year-old Logan Sargeant eliminated him in Q2. As if that personal-level embarrassment wasn’t enough, Hamilton and Team Principal Toto Wolff have given completely different takes on the qualifying disaster, which just shows the shambles that the Silver Arrows are in.

It looked like a pretty shaky qualifying session to start with, for the Briton. He got out of the bottom 5 only in the closing stages of Q1. But that was it. There was zero performance to be found for him in Q2. Amid all the traffic and the weather gods playing with the rain switch every couple of minutes, bettering flying laps was proving to be a bit of a challenge. In the end, the 7-time champion, who was a supposed contender for pole, lost big.

“A few of the others got in the way in the final laps. Tsunoda was a bit in the way, but that didn’t cost me any time. I did two fast laps at the end and the tires overheated, so I couldn’t improve on the last lap,” explained Hamilton, after finishing P13. “We did make some changes thinking it was going in the right direction, but it just didn’t work.” So, it’s safe to conclude that it was performance management that cost them. Surprisingly, it’s not. Toto Wolff felt the complete opposite.

“I think Lewis had really good pace all weekend, and it’s really painful to see that, because of traffic, you’re not making use of [safely] going into Q3, which he would have deserved,” Wolff told Sky Sports, sounding disappointed. It was the heavy ‘impeding’ that the Austrian put all the blame on.

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The Mercedes garage looks like a complete mess. For Hamilton, it is just going from bad to worse. To add to his woes, George Russell has woken up from his slumber too.

George Russell shows hints of 2022 brilliance as he out-qualifies Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was constantly out-qualifying Russell in the first half of 2023. That was one silver lining for him amid all the dark and troubling news. However, the tides seem to be turning. The 25-year-old out-qualified Hamilton by half a second in Q2. To top that, he finished the session by securing a P3 for today’s race at Zandvoort.

“[I’m] feeling good,” said Russell. “It was a really fun session, difficult… Every session these days feels like this when it starts off wet, transitioning to slicks. Qualifying’s been a bit of a weakness for me recently, so the break was really needed. [I] came in with a fresh set of eyes and [I’m] really pleased to be P3 for tomorrow.”

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The Silver Arrows go into the main spectacle of the Dutch GP weekend with a contrasting set of feelings and strategies on their hands. Does Hamilton have what it takes to scale the grid and get a podium?