Toto Wolff to Lewis Hamilton’s struggles after Mercedes ‘turn car…’ read more
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed that the team had to make significant changes to their car setup after a challenging start to the Singapore Grand Prix weekend. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled with pace during Friday’s practice sessions, leaving the team puzzled as to why they were off the pace. Russell finished seventh in the second practice, while Hamilton only managed to secure 11th, raising concerns ahead of the weekend.
Mercedes made substantial overnight adjustments to the W15 to address these issues. Speaking after Saturday’s final practice (FP3), where the team saw some improvement, Wolff shared with Sky Sports F1 that the car underwent dramatic changes. “We literally turned the car upside down,” Wolff explained, highlighting the extensive modifications made to the setup. This transformation, he said, appeared to have placed the car in a better balance window, but Wolff acknowledged that the entire session produced strange results. For example, McLaren’s Lando Norris set a blistering pace, finishing half a second ahead of Russell in FP3, while there were also significant gaps between several teammates on the grid.
Russell improved significantly on Saturday, finishing second fastest, showing that the changes to his car had a positive impact. However, Hamilton, while improving slightly to seventh, was still a full 1.2 seconds behind Norris and well off Russell’s pace. The seven-time world champion admitted on Friday that the team seemed “a bit lost” with their setup. He voiced frustration over the car’s performance, suggesting that despite trying numerous setup adjustments, nothing seemed to click.
“The car feels very difficult. A very challenging day,” Hamilton said following FP2. “We tried everything setup-wise and nothing seems to work. Definitely very challenging.”
Hamilton went on to add that the car’s behavior left him feeling frustrated and uncertain. “We are giving it everything, then you find out you are a second off. Ultimately, just a bit lost. Not really sure where to put the car.”
Wolff acknowledged Hamilton’s struggles, explaining that part of the reason for the performance difference between the two drivers stemmed from slightly different setups. Hamilton and Russell’s cars were tuned differently, and Wolff noted that the team had experimented with several things during FP3. However, he stressed that the 1.2-second gap was unusual for two drivers in the same car, even when accounting for variations in setup.
When asked about the performance disparity, Wolff said the gap between Hamilton and Russell was only “partially” understood. This suggests that while Mercedes was able to make progress on Russell’s side of the garage, Hamilton’s issues were more complex and not entirely solved by the overnight adjustments.
Overall, Mercedes faced a difficult weekend in Singapore, with their struggles highlighting the complexity of this year’s car and the challenge of keeping pace with frontrunners like McLaren and Red Bull. Both drivers and the team hoped to gain more insights during qualifying to improve their chances in the race.
