Toto Wolff responds to recent sayings from Lewis Hamilton regarding favouritism after front wing update given to George Russell in F1 Monaco GP.
It was inevitable for such questions to arise from the Mercedes camp. With Hamilton leaving the fold, handling a situation where the team will have to divide the updates between him and Russell, will be tricky for team boss Wolff.
The mind games would begin and it seemingly kick-started in Monaco itself when Russell ran the new front wing. “There was one front wing for Monaco GP, and it was agreed on Tuesday we’d do a coin toss and see who got it (jokes),” he said. “Lewis said he tried on the sim, he’s happy for me to use it in Monaco because it doesn’t go without risk if we made a mistake in qualifying and dinged it.”
The different front wing point was raised by Hamilton after qualifying. “We’ve really been working hard to improve this car and from the get go it felt great and we were obviously competitive on Friday and Saturday morning,” he said. “We’re not making any drastic changes or anything like that.
“The team have worked really hard back at the factory to bring an upgrade in the last two races and also an update in Monaco – but we only have one, which George has. So I anticipated it would be difficult to outqualify George because he has the upgraded component, but it’s just great to see that we are bringing upgrades.
“But once we get to qualifying, I don’t understand. I already know automatically that I’m going to lose two tenths going into qualifying. That’s definitely frustrating and something that I don’t really have an answer for at the moment. I’m not driving any differently, the laps were really great. I’m just lacking something.”
The grand prix was more or settled after the red flag when the pit stop situation was eliminated. Hamilton tried to get Max Verstappen but was unable to get him to end up seventh, while Russell was fifth on the road, defending from the Dutchman.
“I think ultimately, I try to give me all every weekend to push and to give everything for this team and I am really so happy to see the team bringing upgrades,” said Hamilton when asked if it will be difficult to beat Russell. “At the last three races we’ve had upgrades and in Monaco, George’s one was positive.
“So, I’ll get that in Canada and hopefully over the next few races we get some more and we can try to close that gap,” summed up Hamilton. When asked about the comments from the senior driver, Wolff was more philosophical about it.
He noted about how teams also do as much to maximise its results and not go on one side, while recalling a moment from 2016 Abu Dhabi GP when they tried to manage the race, but apart from that the Austrian states that there hasn’t been any parity problem.
“We’re trying to do the best out of the relationship and maximise the results for what is the final season [for him],” said Wolff. “Always, between drivers and teams it can be tense at times, because everybody wants to do the best. Aren’t all drivers a bit skeptical at times? I think, as a team, we’ve demonstrated even in the most tense competitions between team-mates we’re trying to always balance it right and be transparent and fair.
“I think that was not a….a moment of…apart from 2016 Abu Dhabi where we tried to manage a race but we haven’t done since then. I can understand it as a driver, you want the best out of yourself and the team, and sometimes when it’s going against you, you can question. But as a team, we’re 100 per cent on a mission of giving both drivers the best possible cars, strategies and support,” summed up Wolff.
Here’s George Russell, Lewis Hamilton on Monaco GP situation
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