Toto Wolff has added to Lewis Hamilton’s frustrations, claiming that Mercedes had the car and the pace to beat Max Verstappen to victory at the United States Grand Prix. Instead, the seven-time world champion finished second before the No.44 car was disqualified for a technical breach.
Hamilton started the race from third on the grid, dropping a place to Carlos Sainz on the opening lap. However, the Mercedes star quickly cruised past both Ferrari drivers before closing up to Lando Norris in the lead.
Verstappen then cut through the pack himself with a three-way battle for the lead emerging. The Dutchman pulled the trigger at the first round of pit stops, followed by Norris on the next lap, but Mercedes were caught between two strategies after attempting a tyre offset by running Hamilton long.
This ultimately cost the Brit a shot at fighting Verstappen for the win as Hamilton crossed the line just two seconds behind the three-time world champion, although an irregularity with the W14’s floor meant that his efforts counted for nothing following a post-race disqualification.
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Speaking to Autosport about whether or not Mercedes had the pace to beat Verstappen in Texas, Wolff replied: “Yeah. I think the car was quick. Lewis drove fantastically and if I count all the things that went against us.
“You could say, maybe we could have gone for a two-stop and just cover him [Verstappen], and I think both stops were not great. But it’s an equipment topic and not a human. And then we lost two seconds behind [Lando] Norris, and probably 1.5 seconds behind Ricciardo. But fair dues, this is how we race, and, at the end, it wasn’t sufficient. So, no blame.”
Wolff also confessed that Mercedes showed too much respect to Verstappen with the Silver Arrows heading into Sunday not expecting that the W14 would have a chance in a straight fight with the reigning world champion.
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Wolff explained: “It certainly played a role in that we believed if we were on the same strategy, like Max, cover him, be a few seconds ahead of him, that would not be enough to win the race.
“And that’s okay. He has been dominating all year. So that’s a bit of a mindset you are taking into such a decision. With the one-stop, we felt we could win, or there’s more bigger chances to win. And at the end, the [tyre] performance was not as we thought.”
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