Wolff: “We must not act smart”
Mercedes' home race turned into a disaster, with Lewis Hamilton only being saved by Alfa Romeo's penalty. The British driver leaves Hockenheim with two points from ninth place. On the other hand, Valtteri Bottas retired after a crash in the first turn!
Premonitory, Toto Wolff said on Saturday night that he believed in karma: « Everything that could go wrong will go wrong when you dress like that, with all the friends and family there, being the title sponsor of the Grand Prix. » It is clear that he was right since nothing went as planned during this race.
However, the weekend had started off well, with Lewis Hamilton’s pole position and Ferrari’s misfortunes. But as the race progressed, the team lost its way, especially when Lewis Hamilton made a mistake in the last corner, as he explains: “I thought I had the race under control but we took the risk to switch to slick tires and the race collapsed from there. I went wide in turn 16. It was like ice, I hit the wall and damaged my front wing. I made a mistake and paid the price.”
Things became even more complicated for the team as they were not prepared for the arrival of the British driver since his spin occurred right in front of the pit lane. The unusual chaos that ensued was inevitable according to Toto Wolff: « Lewis’ crash happened right in front of the pit lane entrance. We were not ready when it happened and we made the wrong decisions afterwards. »
However, he did not mince words on the Sky Sports microphone regarding the marketing plan that had been put in place to celebrate the 200th Grand Prix of Mercedes, with notably retro outfits: At the end of the day, it’s a bad day for us, it’s a bad day for the drivers. It can’t get any worse. It shows that we can’t be cocky. We must focus on our work. I’m not superstitious but I believe in karma and it’s a day from which we must learn.
In these conditions, he could only bang his fist on the table when he saw Valtteri Bottas make a mistake: « Valtteri crashed like many other drivers today, making a bad day for us even worse. » It will be interesting to see if such an accident will have consequences on the Finnish driver’s career, especially since he has not yet been confirmed by Mercedes for next season.
A difficult and dizzying day for both Mercedes drivers at Hockenheim 🔄 😵 #F1 #GermanGP 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/x8u4opjBMT
– Formula 1 (@F1) July 28, 2019
From our special envoy to Hockenheim
