Despite Toto Wolff Being “Extremely Harsh”, Lewis Hamilton Favored for Las Vegas GP Win

It’s been over a year since George Russell won his maiden Grand Prix, and it’s also been as long since Mercedes has won at all. Even though last year’s Brazilian GP was the reason Mercedes found confidence in their car, in a cruel twist of fate, the Brackley outfit found itself cursing the decision to stick with the concept from the previous season for 2023.

When it was finally looking as if Toto Wolff and the engineering side of the garage had figured things out with a new aero package at the US GP, a disqualification resulted in all that hard work going to waste. The story was tragic at the Brazilian GP as well, but now they might have a good shot at winning according to an Aston Martin insider.

Pedro de la Rosa favors the W14 and Lewis Hamilton despite Toto Wolff’s disapproval

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Pedro de la Rosa shared his thoughts on Wolff’s criticism of the W14 who went as far as to call the W14 ‘terrible’ and undeserving of winning races let alone championships. He stated, “I think that Toto was extremely harsh on the car especially but I’m pretty sure that they’ll turn up in Las Vegas and they will have done their homework and they will be fighting for a race win again you know.” 

The Brackley outfit has gained notoriety for cracking under pressure, with Wolff having outbursts whenever things swing away from Mercedes. But de la Rosa believes having Lewis Hamilton is a sure-shot indicator of success, even if it’s gradual.

He concluded, “Let’s not forget that Lewis was second in Austin, he was disqualified but he was second he was also flying for the past events since they introduced the new aero package. so let’s wait and see you know. I am pretty sure that if they win the next one they will say that this car deserves a win.”

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Ever since Mercedes brought the new aero update, it is a fact that Hamilton and Russell have been able to perform miles better than the W14 allowed them to earlier in the season. But still, the set-up remains mystical to both the seven-time champion and his young teammate.

Hamilton is amazed by Mercedes’ constructor’s title efforts

The Mercedes man joined Sky Sports F1 during the IWC event to reflect on the difficulties they’ve faced before heading into the Vegas GP. Hamilton shared, “It’s still not a world championship-winning car and I don’t even think it’s probably a race-winning car still. That’s what we’re going to have to work on for next year,”

With the MCL60’s rise to consistent podiums, the former Mclaren driver is hopeful his current team can reclaim its glory just like the Woking outfit has. “But either way, we’re going to be fighting to try and stay ahead of the Ferrari and the fact that we are competing for second in the constructors’ title is amazing given where we started. So I’m hopeful we can maintain that position”

To make things harder for the Brackley outfit, the track temperatures are supposed to be horrifyingly low. It adds an element of uncertainty the teams didn’t need to account for earlier.

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