Mercedes team boss apologises for Hamilton's 'bad' F1 race
Apr.25 - Toto Wolff apologised publicly to seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton after a woeful weekend at Imola.
While George Russell was an admirable P4 at the chequered flag, Hamilton was lapped by his 2021 title rival Max Verstappen en route to P13 on Sunday.
"Sorry for what you needed to drive today," Mercedes team boss Wolff told Hamilton on the radio after the British driver crossed the line.
"I know this is undriveable. We will come out of this."
The Austrian then told the media: "We are not good enough for a world champion and we just need to fix the car."
One of the unique 'no sidepod' 2022 car's biggest problems is excessive porpoising, with Russell admitting it is causing him physical pain to go to the limit.
"I had a lot of pain in my back and also had a bit of pain in my chest," he said. "But this is what we have to go through if we want to get the fastest lap possible."
Two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen is even hinting at a possible team switch for 37-year-old Hamilton.
"I've read a few comments from individuals I respected growing up," Hamilton responded.
"In the end the comments are stupid and about getting headlines. There is no other place I would rather be."
Earlier at Imola, Russell denied Mercedes has a 'number 1' driver policy but admitted that Hamilton is effectively the team "captain".
The younger Briton also defended Hamilton after a particularly uncompetitive weekend.
"This weekend was a bit of a dip but I have no doubt he will bounce back and be stronger than ever," said Russell, 24.
Wolff also denied that Russell is now getting the upper-hand in the Brackley based team.
"It's not at all like that," he insisted. "Their race pace was similar and Lewis got stuck in the DRS train.
"What we saw today was not representative."
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Over to you shoddyfly for hate post nr5 of the day. Great drive by GR by the way and look after your back boy, it needs to last a lifetime
When I posted a video of Gasly looking like a bobblehead due to porpoising, I also said imagine this for an entire race. Well boy George just proved how terrible it is. Youngster like him complaining of pains, and rightly so. The morons commenting here, like Fly guy( who's probably fat with a beer gut) couldn't manage one lap in that car so ignore them. That car as it currently is will never win a title, so I don't fault Sir Lewis for not wrecking his body in vain. Lots of races to go. Let the youngster have at it until Merc improves. We'll see what the so called B spec car does when it's ready.
"In the end the comments are stupid and about getting headlines. There is no other place I would rather be."
Translated as-- no other team would have me...
Never mind Kind George, what about Bottas ?
Bottas and Norris ran a great race. Some say it was a boring race, I thought is was telling and hopeful. Maybe no more processional races, where the results were in from the moment lights went out. Mid field cars now have a chance to podium. No more for sure winners. Just my humble opinion.
This was an embarrassment on Mercedes part! To publicly apologize because Lewis couldn’t or wouldn’t drive his car, made Lewis look like a spoiled adolescent and Toto a very weak parent. If both cars are the same, and we’ve heard that forever, than George is the far better driver, even with a marginal car. Lewis is a marginal driver and succeeds only with a superior car. Not hating on Lewis but it is time to move on. Lewis’s body language speaks volumes. Should have listened to his inner self, and retired.
Not just my opinion, even commentators and Rosberg alluded to it.
Spot on, Susan, but if I'm paying someone $40-50m to drive my car I am going to say whatever is necessary to get some performance out of him
Well…coddling isn’t going to help. Maybe a come to Jesus would help. Buddy, we just threw you $40m to drive our car. If Russell can do it , so can a Knight. Man up cupcake.
Correct in the real world, Susan. But I am reminded that Nico says coddling is the correct way to get the best out of Golden Dreads. He has known the guy for most of 30 yrs so his opinion is probably valid.
Perhaps ROR, but in the real world the rest of us live in, an unflinching verbal spanking would be in order. I'm guessing Dame Lucy hasn't had one of those in a very long time.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Toto could always trot out the Contract and wave vaguely at the non-performance clause. Just having the document on his desk during a discussion sends a signal that Mgt is reviewing the Contract. That put's the wind up anyone's kilt.
Re Georgie Boy. Can you imagine Nige whining about his back? George, you wanted the seat, begged for the seat. The lesson here is to be careful what you wish for.
I cannot no, maybe have complained his moustache was tickling him, or his brummy accent was hard for those at Maranello to understand, but Kind George is just a pup, he has much to learn, i hear thought hes bought Lewis a present, a "learn finnish book"
He was asked to comment on the car and race and gave an honest answer. The only whiner here is you ror, again.
Good old Nico...lol, what was it Lewis said? "im back" on the 5th Feb..! and that was amusingly 77 days ago, the same as VBs race number, oh the gift that keeps on giving,Delboy might be Miami twice , but Lalas appearance this yr will be his one and only.
Sarcasm aside, Nico makes some interesting observations. Talks like a racer, not a bootlicker.
Shame he didn't driver like a racer.
To be fair to nico he didn't do a bad job.
Nope at least he wasn't a No2 driver , as Bottas was forced to be, and if it carries on this way as Hamilton will defacto be in the team .
Hes as he is ,but still a racer at heart,and has marvellous hair too
It’s time for the “bootlickers” to find someone else to adore. It won’t be MV, because he ruined LH fun in Abu Dhabi. Maybe GR or LN? Who knows,? Only time will tell. Brundle must be beside himself trying to come up with excuses for Sir Lulu.
The British press is the predominant source for F1 news, and they deserve the dominance. Over the yrs there have been some great Brit journo's IMO, Lando is absolutely top drawer and deserves their adoration. Sorry, I know that most disagree, but IMO Georgie Boy is less worthy. Too much of a politico.
On f1 results id agree Ror but pre f1 King George has the much better cv, and Lando jumped into a fairlyyyy competitive car in f1, whereas KG had to make do with a Turd.. being brutally honest, so for me jury is still out, either way the next ten yrs hopefully one of them will be a wdc
Be great by me if BOTH are future WDC's. I just really like everything about Lando. LEC (why can't the SKY guys say Charles?) too, while we're on the subject. IMO, we have a good pride of young lions but those two stand out for me.
'Schadenfreude has been detected in children as young as 24 months and may be an important social emotion establishing "inequity aversion'
Pass the crisps:-)
It's kind of awkward watching dame Lucy's gawd-awful performance this past weekend. I mean, he couldn't even pass Gasly until the DRS was finally enabled. And he was whining loudly about it to the pit-wall "Where's the DRS, man?"
Dear Dame Lucy won all those races and titles not because he's a superlative driver - he isn't - but because the chassis was simply unbeatable. And now with his P13 finish, the second-string chassis under him, the shouting match with Toto, it would appear that the truth about Lucy's talent is now becoming more and more evident.
A boss I once had said to me about employment contracts, ( they are for divorces, not marriages) never forgotten that..
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