The 2024 United States GP could not have gone any worse for Lewis Hamilton, who retired on lap five after starting from a lowly 17th on the grid. The Briton missed out on another opportunity to make a positive mark on his Mercedes farewell tour, but Toto Wolff was not worried.
Hamilton will join Ferrari in 2025, which means he will suit up for Mercedes in only five more Grand Prix weekends. Looking at how he and the Silver Arrows performed in Austin, many wondered if the seven-time world champion would be in for similar results in the closing stages of the season. Wolff, however, believes he will end his partnership with Hamilton ‘on a high’.
Toto Wolff on “finishing on a high” with Sir Lewis Hamilton :
“We are keen on (it), but how his mindset and how the relationships are in the team is as good as we ever had. First thing he said, he apologised for the incident. As I said before, I do not think it was his fault.… pic.twitter.com/MRr2lmGdJt
— sim (@sim3744) October 21, 2024
“We are keen, but how his mindset and how the relationships are in the team is as good as we ever had,” said Wolff.
The Mercedes team principal added that Hamilton apologized for his mistake at turn 19, which made him beach his car in the gravel. Despite that, Wolff said, “We want to celebrate it [Hamilton’s last season with them] and finish it on a high and I am sure we will.”
At the same time, Wolff did not guarantee that the W15 would be competitive enough for race wins in the last five outings in 2024, but what he did promise was that Mercedes would give its best. Perhaps that’s what he considered to be a ‘high’.
Hamilton mirrored teammate’s mistake in Austin
Hamilton’s qualifying was woeful in Austin, and he started the race from P17 — his worst-ever grid position in the USA. Ahead of the Grand Prix, however, he was determined to turn it into a positive afternoon. Alas, tragedy struck on lap five.
Hamilton went off at turn 19, the same place where George Russell hit the barriers in qualifying on Saturday. While the Briton was P6 when he crashed out, his floor was damaged beyond repair; so much so that the engineers had to work on it post the stipulated time, and had to revert back to the W15’s Singapore spec.
Yesterday was a very disappointing day. The team has worked so hard bringing upgrades to the car, which showed great potential on Friday. Yesterday, we didn’t seem to have that pace and I was pushing beyond the limit, ultimately paying the price with the crash. pic.twitter.com/vuBIYaCrx0
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) October 20, 2024
It led to a penalty for Russell, who started from the pit lane, and with a five-second penalty in the race, finished P6 — a result as good as Mercedes could have hoped for.
In next weekend’s Mexico City GP, Hamilton would be hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened in Austin, and aim for the podium places.
