Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff could not make it to the Japanese Grand Prix this past weekend because he had to undergo knee surgery. Instead, he was following his team from his home. Despite not being present at the venue, it did not stop him from giving team orders to both his drivers. As per a report put out by the Italian edition of motorsport.com, Wolff had ordered Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to use Carlos Sainz’s tactics to defend against the Spaniard in the final laps of the race.
However, the Austrian’s orders did not work out as planned, as Sainz overtook Russell. Since Mercedes failed to find an optimal strategy to keep Sainz behind the 25-year-old, Hamilton fumed.
No fear. 😤🔥 @LewisHamilton goes full send on Fernando into Suzuka’s legendary 130R! 🤯pic.twitter.com/c8nPtYPOPh
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 25, 2023
While speaking to the media after the race, the 38-year-old said (as quoted by racingnews365.com), “I don’t think it was a good idea. When they suggested it to me, I knew that they obviously thought of it from the last race, and it made no sense. I needed to get as far clear ahead as possible“.
Hamilton believes that since Mercedes had asked him to give Russell the DRS, he himself became vulnerable to Sainz. As a result, it was very difficult for him to keep the Ferrari driver behind in the final few laps of the race.
Lewis Hamilton was not happy with Toto Wolff
According to the Italian edition of motorsport.com (as quoted by soymotor.com), Toto Wolff was the one who called the shots during the final few laps of the Japanese Grand Prix. The Austrian wanted George Russell to let Lewis Hamilton pass, with the hope that the 38-year-old could provide the former with DRS to defend against Carlos Sainz.
As soon as the Spaniard saw how Mercedes were playing the cards ahead of him, he took to his team radio and described how they were attempting to use his own strategy against him. The 29-year-old had successfully used DRS at the Singapore Grand Prix to win his first race of the 2023 season.
In that instance, the Ferrari driver had deliberately provided second-placed Lando Norris the DRS to defend against the two fast-approaching Mercedes’ of Russell and Hamilton. Sainz’s tactics played out to perfection as Norris was able to defend against both the Silver Arrows, and as a result, the Spaniard ended up keeping his lead without much pressure.
While Sainz used this strategy to perfection to defend his place, the Mercedes team were not able to do so. After the race, the Ferrari driver explained where he believed that the Silver Arrows got their tactics wrong.
Sainz believes Mercedes should have never swapped
Carlos Sainz believes (as quoted by crash.net) it was the wrong decision for Mercedes to swap George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to defend their positions against himself. Instead, the Spaniard believes that if Russell had stayed ahead of Hamilton, the 38-year-old could have successfully defended against him.
Sainz then added how he found it extremely funny to see the way Mercedes were using his own strategy to defend against him. The 29-year-old stated that he could see Hamilton deliberately backing off to ensure that Russell received the DRS to defend against him.
