A disappointed Toto Wolff reflects on ‘really painful evening’ for…read more.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ team principal, expressed disappointment after a difficult outing at the Singapore Grand Prix, calling it a “really painful evening” for the team. Despite high hopes after a strong qualifying session, where George Russell and Lewis Hamilton started from second and third on the grid respectively, the team fell short of expectations.
Russell was able to hold onto third place for much of the race but was eventually overtaken by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. In the closing stages, Russell managed to fend off a challenge from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc but ultimately finished fourth. Lewis Hamilton, who had started the race in P3, had a tougher outing. After being undercut by his teammate, Hamilton slipped back and eventually finished sixth.
Wolff didn’t hold back in his assessment of the team’s performance. “It was a really painful, painful evening,” he said. “Positions fourth and sixth… that’s not good, especially when you started 2nd and 3rd.” He noted that Mercedes is currently struggling with certain types of circuits, particularly those that are hot and hard on traction. He cited the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku as examples, but was clear that these struggles were no excuse for the team’s underperformance.
Reflecting on the race, Wolff highlighted the large time gap between Mercedes and the front runners, describing it as difficult to accept. George Russell finished a full 61 seconds behind Lando Norris, the race winner, and that gap could have been even larger if Norris had not encountered traffic and eased off in the latter stages of the race. Hamilton, meanwhile, finished over 85 seconds behind Norris, which put him almost a lap down by the end of the race.
The gap in performance between Mercedes and the top teams was a particular point of frustration for Wolff. “If your quickest car is a minute behind the leader, it’s just difficult to accept,” he said. This performance disparity has become a recurring issue for Mercedes on certain tracks, and the team has struggled to match the pace of their rivals in high-temperature, high-degradation circuits.
Despite the challenging weekend, Mercedes will be hoping to bounce back at the United States Grand Prix in Austin. The team has fond memories of the Texas race, where Hamilton finished second last year. However, that result was later nullified when both Hamilton and Ferrari’s Leclerc were disqualified for failing to pass a technical inspection. The disqualifications promoted Russell to fourth, a result that, under normal circumstances, the team would have been happy with, but this season, their ambitions are higher.
As Wolff and the Mercedes team look ahead to the next race, the focus will be on understanding and addressing the issues that led to their disappointing performance in Singapore. With the season nearing its end, time is running out for Mercedes to close the gap on their competitors and reclaim their place at the front of the grid. For now, the team is left with the reality that there is still a lot of work to do.
