Toto Wolff breaks down Mercedes strategy decisions during the US Grand Prix as well as discussing an impressive performance from seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton at a track he is openly fond of.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes put in an impressive performance in yesterday’s United States Grand Prix in order to take the chequered flag second on the road. Despite the solid result from the team, the pace shown suggests that a different strategy could have seen Hamilton take the win.
“I think the car was quick. Lewis drove fantastically.”
Team principal Toto Wolff admits a sudden drop in pace cost the team the opportunity as they attempted to extend Hamilton’s opening stint in order to make a 1 stop strategy work.
“On lap 19 or 20 when Max [Verstappen] pitted we knew we only had to make three more laps to make a one-stop stick,” Toto Wolff said after the race. “Then the performance just went downhill massively and that probably was one of the reasons that we couldn’t monetise but overall I think we need to be happy with the performance.
“I think the car was quick. Lewis drove fantastically. If I count all the things that went against us, you could say we could have gone for a two-stop and just covered him. I think both stops were not great, but it’s an equipment topic, not a human [issue].
“Then we lost two seconds behind Norris and then probably a second and a half behind Ricciardo but that’s fair dues. It’s how we race and in the end it wasn’t sufficient, so no blame.”
“At the end the performance was not as good as we thought.”
Wolff went on to admit that Verstappen’s dominance so far this season influenced Mercedes’ strategy decisions as they believed they would be unable to beat the Red Bull driver if they ran the same strategy.
“It certainly played a role,” Wolff admitted. “We believed if we were on the same strategy like Max [Verstappen], cover him, be a few seconds ahead of him, that would not be enough to win the race. That’s ok. They’ve been dominating all year, so that’s a bit of a mindset you’re taking into such a decision.
“With the one stop we felt like we could win, that there’s more chances to win, and at the end the performance [of Verstappen] was not as good as we thought.”
“We had to pit at the worst of all times…”
Wolff went on to admit that initially the team had planned on running a two stop race, before pivoting mid Grand Prix to attempt a two step. The team were then caught off guard by the sudden drop off in pace from Hamilton as his tyres went off.
“Strategy was a two stop,” Wolff stated. “But we said ‘if we are able to go lap 18 or 19, then one stop was on’. I think when Max [Verstappen] pitted we had another three or four laps to cover only, to make a one-stop stick, but then the lap times just fell away massively from us.
“We had to pit at the worst of all times, not optimised for a one-stop, not optimised for a two-stop, that’s what happened.”
