Wolff reveals what Hamilton hinders from extracting the most of the current F1 cars
On the back of another strong showing from Mercedes, the Brackley-based outfit's team boss Toto Wolff has revealed why seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has struggled to extract the most of his car in recent months.
Max Verstappen finished eighth in the sprint which has been his worst ever result in the short race format, but the Dutch driver bounced back with a sensational turnaround in qualifying to secure pole position for today's Qatar Grand Prix, beating Mercedes racer George Russell right at the end by, just 55 thousandths of a second.
However, the Red Bull driver was later given a one place grid penalty for having been deemed by the Stewards to have driven unnecessarily slowly on a cool down lap in Q3. Verstappen therefore stays on the front row, but it’s Russell who will start from pole.
Mercedes finished third and sixth earlier in the 19-lap Qatar F1 Sprint, with Russell finishing ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Reflecting on the German-British outfit's day at the Lusail International Circuit, team boss Toto Wolff reckons that the W15 works well in Qatar given the smooth surface of the track which has allowed the team to run the car very low.
"Overall, we are happy with the results we have seen today as a Team. The car seems to function well in these conditions as we can run the car low and stiff on a smooth track which ultimately suits the characteristics of our car and George seems to like the way it drives.
"We’ve seen this over the last couple of qualifying sessions and races. George was performing well in Q3 but was just lacking half a tenth to secure pole against Max.
While Lewis Hamilton secured pole position and won the race at the first-ever Qatar Grand Prix in dominant fashion back in 2021, the seven-time world champion has struggled so far to match his team-mate's speed this weekend. Wolff explained that the current generation F1 cars does not suit Hamilton's driving style, especially on corner entries.
"For Lewis this generation of cars aren’t always suiting his driving style, he likes to be aggressive on corner entries and unfortunately this car at the moment can’t quite take it, especially on qualifying laps when it’s right on the edge.
"Lewis in the race, however, usually manages to turn it around like last week where he was overtaking car after car and coming through the pack. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and hopefully we can deliver another good result with both cars for the Team."
