Toto Wolff Baffled by ‘Mysterious’ Problems as Lewis Hamilton Loses to “Stunning” Ferrari

We are all aware of the volatile nature of each track as every one of them brings new challenges for the teams. However, despite the varying nature of the track, all teams are aware of all the obstacles that are headed their way. However, the 2023 Las Vegas GP was a mystery for everyone. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff backed that up as he tried to explain how George Russell went fourth fastest on the same where Lewis Hamilton was 11th fastest.

Not only that, the Austrian boss also talked about the confusing nature of the qualifying session as the grid’s usual hierarchy was all out of order as they lost out to Ferrari. A fight that is extremely important in the battle of the constructors.

Toto Wolff expresses his confusion with the first Las Vegas GP outing as Lewis Hamilton loses to stunning Ferrari

Speaking to Toto Wolff after the Las Vegas GP qualifying sessions, Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz was on a fact-finding mission. As seen on Twitter (now X), the Austrian tried to answer the questions to the best of his knowledge which was obviously limited resulting in confusion.

When asked to explain how George Russell went fourth fastest and the other did not even make it to Q3, Wolff said, “It remains a mystery. Having the tires in the right window and you can see the difference. We already saw it in FP3. (After a subtle shake of the head) Very difficult to understand.”

When impressed upon the question to gain clarity, as well as the instance where Hamilton confessed he gave it his best, Wolff elaborated. “Yeah, because he did not have any more grip. I think we’re talking really about 4 or 5 degrees in temperature difference between grip and no grip,” he added.

The boss concluded the conversation with a couple of examples. “You can see that some teams that are, you know the McLarens, they play in the front and they’re out in Q1. On the rear side, the Ferraris putting in stunning laps. Both of them half a second ahead of everybody else,” he concluded.

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The boss might’ve explained the logic behind but there are some that won’t take any excuse for this qualifying performance from Hamilton. In fact, the Brit earned harsh criticism from a former world champion after it as Russell collected the accolades.

Lewis Hamilton’s poor Las Vegas GP qualifying performance earns him harsh criticism

The Brit has been pipped against his new younger teammate since the start of the 2022 season. In fact, he lost to a teammate for the first time since 2016 in the overall standings against Russell. The seven-time world champion might’ve taken the command back of the garage in 2023. However, there have been instances where the young Brit has fought back.

The Las Vegas GP so far has proved to be Russell’s weekend so far and this has made the 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve rank Russell higher than Hamilton.

“It seems to be a very peaky car with a very small window of operation and really hard to set up. George seems to be better at that. Lewis spent so many years with an easy car to drive with extra horsepower. When they didn’t have the right set up, right strategy, they would still win,” said Villeneuve.

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Russell is surely changing the opinion of many around him as time progresses. However, we can only pick out a clear winner if and when the two fight head-to-head for the championship.