'The Worst Weekend In 13 Years': Mercedes Team Principal Addresses 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix
F1Monday, 06 November 2023 at 23:00
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff reflected on the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint weekend at Interlagos Circuit.
Mercedes looked pretty average from the first qualifying session on Friday. Lewis Hamilton and his teammate were only fast enough for P5 and P6 during the messy weather-affected session.
The Sprint Shootout session was very similar. Hamilton finished in P5 again, but his teammate managed to improve by two positions to finish in P4.
Mercedes hoped for a better race pace, which would help their drivers move up the grid, but the opposite was true. Russell finished P4 during the sprint race, and Hamilton fell to P7.
The seven-time World Champion expressed his disappointment already after the Sprint race, calling it "horrible" and saying Mercedes would not be winning on Sunday.
Unfortunately, Hamilton was right. Mercedes driver had a decent start but lacked a lot of pace on the straights, could not overtake, and fell down the grid.
The seven-time World Champion finished in P8, and to top things off, his teammate had to retire from the race because of overheating problems. The team principal, Toto Wolff, told the media after the race:
"I think Sprint weekends haven't been our strengths. We are working ourselves out of problems on most weekends. But swings are not on from being almost quickest [in Mexico] to being eighth."
Wolff did not hide disappointment with the weekend in Sao Paulo when he said: "For me personally, the worst weekend in 13 years."
After an unsuccessful sprint race on Saturday, Mercedes might have opted for the chance to change the setup of their cars and start from the pit lane, but the team principal explained:
"We didn't know fundamentally where we would have changed it because there is a much bigger issue. We thought about [a pit lane start]. But when thinking about maximizing points, it was probably right to start like this."
The gap between Mercedes and their closest competitor in the Constructors' Championship - Ferrari, came down to 20 points after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, and the battle is on for the two remaining weekends of the season.
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