On a Sunday marked by frustration, BMW driver Marco Wittmann expressed his disappointment after finishing seventh in the decisive race of the DTM championship in Hockenheim. Wittmann, who qualified 16th, highlighted the issues his team faced with the Balance of Performance (BoP) and felt that his car was not adequately assessed after Saturday’s race.
The competition for the title between Thomas Preining and Maro Engel was intense, while Wittmann looked on from a distance. ‘I would have liked to fight between the three of us, but that was not allowed. We could not run at the same level,’ Wittmann stated. The driver emphasized that, despite securing third place in the previous race, his grid position was a reflection of his lack of competitiveness.
After Saturday, where Wittmann set the third-best time, he was surprised that only the Mercedes-AMG was adjusted, increasing its weight by five kilograms. ‘There were no necessary adjustments. In our opinion, the BoP did not do justice to our speed,’ he added.
Wittmann pointed out that his performance in Saturday’s race was indicative of his P16 on the grid. ‘The track showed that we did not have the necessary speed. Mercedes, Lamborghini, and Porsche were superior to us,’ he criticized. With a gap of 27 points in the final standings, the two-time DTM champion feels that the team did not have the equipment needed to be competitive at the top.
Additionally, Andreas Roos, head of motorsport at BMW, expressed his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the BoP, pointing to Engel’s fast lap, which was nearly four-tenths quicker than Wittmann’s. ‘We did not expect the qualifying session to be so disappointing,’ he said, reflecting the team’s poor moment in comparison to their rivals.
Despite the disappointment, Wittmann started the race determined to improve his position. In five laps, he moved up to seventh place but got stuck behind other competitors. His luck changed temporarily when a rival driver received a penalty, but in the end, Wittmann could not finish higher than seventh.
The situation leaves Wittmann reflecting on what could have been, acknowledging that without the proper conditions, his potential to fight for the front spots was limited. ‘We did not have the package to move forward more,’ he concluded, surrounded by a sense of frustration with what has been a disappointing end to the season.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_d6b4b8e5fb8dea2cc7378a441084c3cc9eb08034