Mercedes had a horrific outing at the United States GP last weekend. George Russell finished sixth in the race while Lewis Hamilton had to retire from the Grand Prix after uncharacteristically spinning onto the gravel on just the third lap of the race. Although Mercedes were so poor at Austin, team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that his side will continue with their latest upgrades on the W15.
When quizzed about the same in an interview with Auto Motor Und Sport, the Austrian replied, “It is more the case that the aerodynamics do not yet fully harmonize with the mechanical platform. That is why we will continue with the upgrade. Anything else would not make sense because otherwise, we would lose too much lap time”.
AUTO MOTOR UND SPORT – Toto Wolff does not see a fundamental problem with the Austin upgrade parts: “It is more the case that the aerodynamics do not yet fully harmonize with the mechanical platform.”
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Wolff and Mercedes’ decision to stick with their latest upgrades is surprising as, throughout the United States GP weekend, both Russell and Hamilton complained about the handling of the car. When it comes to Hamilton specifically, he was surprised to spin the way he did and refused to blame himself for it. He explained,
“The car started bouncing on the way in and then it just lost all load off the rear and just went around on me. I’ve never spun in the race before, not that I remember at least, and if I have it can only be once maybe before in all these years”.
Wolff also acknowledged Hamilton was not at fault for beaching the car and instead claimed responsibility himself for what transpired on the track. The Austrian stated that there was definitely something wrong with the W15 last weekend as Hamilton “doesn’t lose the car like this”.
Amid such struggles that Mercedes faced in Austin, it seems baffling that Wolff would be insistent on persisting with the latest upgrades on the W15. However, he did have a reason for the same.
“We simply lack consistency”: Wolff
Wolff believes that the problems last weekend at Austin did not arise because of Mercedes‘ latest upgrades. Instead, he believes they arose because of their failure to understand the ground-effect regulations well enough.
He claimed, “It’s been like that with these ground-effect cars for two and a half years now”. Interestingly, he added that even McLaren and Ferrari have struggled with the same.
Wolff pointed out how Ferrari had suffered a massive dip in performance just a few weeks prior to the summer break and most experts had written them off. However, at Austin last weekend, they were the team to beat. Ferrari secured a dominant 1-2 finish during the main race, with Charles Leclerc clinching his third victory of the 2024 season.
Since Ferrari returned to form despite suffering a mid-season dip, Wolff believes that even Mercedes are “just missing a small step in understanding” the ground-effect regulations. And once they understand where they are lacking, Wolff is confident Mercedes can return to the front.
