The Dutch GP turned out to be one of the most chaotic races of the 2023 season. The mixed conditions proved to be a difficult test for both the drivers as well as the teams – a test that Mercedes failed miserably at. Following the race, team principal Toto Wolff reflected on a bad day at the office as he spoke to Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok, despite the fact that he had seemed to find a way to stay positive regardless of the current situation at Mercedes throughout the weekend.
Mercedes had shown pretty good pace throughout the Dutch GP weekend and George Russell started the race from P3, in contention for a podium finish. However, when the rain came pouring down, Mercedes took too long to bring in their drivers to fit the intermediate tires in. Both Hamilton and Russell stayed out in the rain on soft tires and ended up losing a huge chunk of time.
“We got it completely wrong.”
– Toto Wolff on Mercedes’ decision not to pit either Lewis or George sooner during the heavy rain at the start of the race#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/S96ROTUzPd
— Hamilton Insights (@LH44_insights) August 27, 2023
By the time they pitted for inters and came out onto the track, Hamilton was down in P16 and Russell was P18. While Hamilton did manage to crawl up to P6 from there, Russell failed to make a recovery and finished the race P17. The former Williams driver was visibly frustrated as he vented out his frustration on the team radio.
Toto Wolff tries his best to stay positive
Toto Wolff joined Sky Sports F1 presenter Karun Chandhok after the race and spoke about the poor performance of his team. Wolff said, “I think we stayed out catastrophically too long. We got it completely wrong. And that’s annoying because the car had really pace. And then from there onwards. Just recovering as good as we could.”
The comments were in quite stark contrast to what Wolff had been saying throughout the weekend. The Austrian had spoken to Karun Chandhok on Friday as well, but during that conversation, Wolff had seemed extremely desperate to try and stay positive about the whole situation.
🎙️| Toto: “As a matter of fact, we’re second in the championship. That’s respectable, If you discount Red Bull winning every race.”
It’s all about the perspective… 😆#DutchGP 🇳🇱pic.twitter.com/MDH7wgrLKz
— Hamilton Insights (@LH44_insights) August 25, 2023
Wolff explained that they won the championship for eight years straight and as of now, they haven’t been able to hit those benchmarks. But the team is extremely motivated to return to the days of glory and are working towards it. Wolff said, “As a matter of fact were second in the Championship, that’s respectable, if you discount Red Bull winning every race.”
Lewis Hamilton was not too satisfied with his team’s performance
Between the two drivers, Hamilton could make somewhat of a recovery as he climbed up to P6. However, the seven time world champion wasn’t really happy because he believes he had the pace to challenge Verstappen if not for the poor strategy calls taken by his team.
Following the race, Hamilton said, “When that rain then came out, we as a team made the wrong decision. Ultimately it was the team’s call and we paid the price for that.” He also mentioned, “If we made the right call, I had the pace to challenge the top two.”
However, it wasn’t to be for the Mercedes driver, who currently stands P4 in the driver’s championship with 156 points.
