'All Of That Doesn’t Matter': Toto Wolff Reacts To Hamilton's Disqualification
F1Tuesday, 24 October 2023 at 03:00
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff reacts to the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton, who finished second in the United States Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton had an all-around strong weekend at Circuit of the Americas, which he almost finished by winning the United States Grand Prix when he came very close to challenging Max Verstappen for the race lead.
Ultimately, the seven-time World Champion crossed the finish line in second place. However, a few hours after the race, Hamilton was disqualified.
The issue was that the Mercedes car of the 38-year-old did not meet the technical requirements for maximum wear of the wooden plank on the car's floor.
Hamilton did not let the news take away from the positive of the weekend for Mercedes when he said: "That doesn't take away from the progress we've made this weekend."
It also did not take a long time before the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, shared his thoughts on the situation. As reported by PlanetF1, The Austrian said after the race:
"Set-up choices on a Sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice – and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package."
On one hand, Wolff pointed towards the tough conditions of the bumpy track and sprint weekend structure. On the other hand, he also admits the conditions were the same for all teams.
"In the end, all of that doesn’t matter; others got it right where we got it wrong, and there’s no wiggle room in the rules. We need to take it on the chin, do the learning, and come back stronger next weekend."
Similar to Hamilton. Wolff focuses on the positives of the weekend. The upgrades brought to Austin by Mercedes have made the team's drivers more competitive on a track they typically wouldn't be.
"We can take a lot of positives from the car's performance. We hate coming so close to winning and falling short. But this is a circuit where, only a few races ago, we wouldn’t have performed well because of the fast, sweeping corners."
Lewis Hamilton especially seemed to have more confidence in his car, which is one of the most essential things for Mercedes, as Wolff identified a while ago. The team principal concluded: "Directionally, it’s a very good sign."
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