Toto Wolff has pushed back against Lewis Hamilton’s concerns over Mercedes’ latest upgrade, insisting there is no ‘fundamental’ issue with the car, despite the team’s struggles at the United States Grand Prix.
While Hamilton questioned whether the new aero package was to blame for his and George Russell’sdifficulties in Austin, Wolff remains confident in the updates and intends to stick with them for the rest of the season.
Mercedes introduced a series of aerodynamic improvements to its W15 in Austin, but the weekend was far from smooth.
Both Hamilton and Russell faced challenges, including near-identical spins at Turn 19 – Russell’s crash in qualifying and Hamilton’s race-ending incident – raising doubts over the car’s stability.
Hamilton himself suggested that the new upgrades might be the culprit, but Wolff sees things differently.
Lewis Hamilton caused an early safety car at the US GP after spinning off the track
Wolff defends Mercedes F1 upgrades
Reflecting on the United States Grand Prix, Wolff dismissed the notion that the recent updates caused the issues. He attributed the problems to the car’s interaction with the bumpy surface of the Circuit of the Americas, rather than any inherent flaw in the new developments.
“I don’t think we have a fundamental issue on the upgrade, very much,” he told media in Austin. “My thinking is, it’s more interaction on aero and on mechanical stuff. “Therefore we’re going to continue with the upgrade. It makes no sense to not because there’s a lot of lap time you leave on the table.”
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However, it seems as though the team will be splitting their packages for the Mexican GP, due to problems caused by Hamilton’s spin in Austin.
“George drove the July upgrade because we didn’t have the [new] floor and that seemed pretty competitive,” Wolff noted. “Clearly, we will be missing the floor that needs to go back to the UK and then be repaired for Brazil,” he concluded.
