Mercedes ‘laughed’ about driver antics during Toto Wolff’s absence
Toto Wolff believes Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s recent “unpleasant situations” are the result of Mercedes racing higher up the order with more at stake.
Forced to miss the Japan and Qatar Grands Prix having undergone knee surgery, in Wolff’s absence Mercedes had not one but two races of team-mate quibbles. The latter being the more serious.
After a bit of argy-bargy at the Suzuka circuit and some tense words spoken over the radio, the team-mates came together at the start of the Qatar Grand Prix as Hamilton tried to pass Russell for second.
The Mercedes team-mates crashed in Qatar
But sliding around the outside into Turn 1, Hamilton misjudged his line and turned in on his team-mate with the ensuing crash putting the seven-time World Champion out of the race.
Having left Jerome D’Ambrosio in charge during his injury lay-out, it was perhaps a case of when the cat’s away, the mice will play.
Wolff denied this, instead putting it down to Mercedes having a “sniff” at the Lusail circuit.
“No, I don’t think… we’ve laughed about that too in the team, but I don’t think it had an effect,” he said.
“I think we are racing more in the front now. I think we have a sniff, you know, how it is looking like to have no car in front of you with the McLarens and with Max there. In any case, we’ll never find out, I’m back.”
He does, however, concede team-mate tension is par for the course as the first person any driver wants to beat is his team-mate.
“There were some, let’s say, unpleasant situations that we have talked about,” he said. “Lots of points that we left on the table, but there is nobody more aware than the drivers.
“And sometimes you need these moments to recalibrate and recondition and avoid similar situations in the future.
“But they’re racing drivers: they compete hard. Your first competitor is your team-mate, and therefore, I see it with a relatively relaxed stance. And I’m back.”
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But while the Austrian wasn’t at the track for those two races, he was tuned in from his home where he set up his own “pitwall” to communicate with the team.
“I was completely plugged in. I have pitwall or centre console set-up at home,” he revealed. “So, part of every briefing or debriefing and the conversations during the race.
“But obviously you got to let the guys here fly the aeroplane because when you’re remote, I need to almost always take myself back a little bit.
“Because you’re distant. You don’t look into the faces, you don’t see what’s going on emotionally, with the people around you. And you feel, in a certain way, detached. So, it’s not something that I enjoy, but it was a necessity.”
But having reiterated that he is back, Wolff will be hoping Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, where Hamilton will line up P3 to Russell’s P5, won’t be Qatar part 2.
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