Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is confident that his side had the car to challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen for the win at the United States Grand Prix last weekend. The Austrian believes that the primary reason why Lewis Hamilton failed to challenge the Dutchman before eventually being disqualified was because of the Silver Arrows’ poor pit stops.
The 38-year-old stopped twice during the race, with Wolff believing that both his pit stops were not ideal. Most pit stops usually take between 2.5 and 3 seconds. However, when it came to Hamilton, both his pit stops took longer than three seconds.
🚨BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc referred to stewards after the planks on their cars were found to be non-compliant with the rules in post-race checks #F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/nR0zC0BUMt
— Autosport (@autosport) October 22, 2023
His first pit stop took 3.6 seconds while his second pit stop took 3.4 seconds. As a result, Hamilton lost about 1.5-2 seconds in the pit stops. It is pertinent to note that Verstappen also beat Hamilton by just over 2 seconds, which is roughly the time the Briton lost in the pits. Despite the same, Wolff does not want to blame his team for the same.
Toto Wolff blames the equipment rather than his team
While speaking in an interview to describe what cost Lewis Hamilton to lose out to Max Verstappen, Toto Wolff explained how the poor equipment Mercedes used resulted in the slow pit stops. “Our two stops weren’t good either. But that’s an issue of equipment and not people,” he explained (as quoted by motorsport-total.com).
After stating the same, Wolff explained how Hamilton also lost a lot of time behind both Norris and Ricciardo. As a result, the 51-year-old believes that Hamilton and Mercedes were just unlucky in their failure to fight Verstappen for the win, resulting in him having further hope for the 2024 season.
Wolff explains why Mercedes are likely to have a stronger 2024 season
The signs of optimism for Mercedes are currently there as the team has shown a clear demonstration of how their pace has increased as the season has progressed. Another thing that Toto Wolff believes that the team has made strides is in the way they have worked on their weaknesses.
The Austrian pointed out how Mercedes performed significantly better at COTA as compared to Suzuka, two circuits that have similar characteristics. “When I look back at the Esses [in Japan], we were slow. Here, it was our best sector. So overall we need to be pleased,” he explained (as quoted by autosport.com).
As a result, Wolff believes that he is “cautiously optimistic” about Mercedes’ chances in 2024 after looking at his side’s recent upgrades. Even though the Silver Arrows have shown a significant improvement, the gap to Red Bull may still be too big to cover over the winter.
