Mercedes: More incidents in one race than throughout the entire season
For the first time since the introduction of the V6 Turbo Hybrid, no Mercedes driver is on the podium. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were involved in too many incidents, losing a one-two finish that was promised to them before the race.
As in Silverstone three weeks ago, the Mercedes drivers missed their start. While the Ferraris raced to the front, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were hampering each other on the track. The English driver, quickly in 10th place, was about to experience a crazy race. Faster than his teammate under regular conditions, he nonetheless made too many errors and ended up in an unexpected 6th place. He notably apologized to his team during the race for colliding with Daniel Ricciardo, which earned him a penalty.
The World Champion had a tumultuous afternoon but won’t keep it as a good memory: « The start wasn’t ideal but it wasn’t so bad for us. It was the Ferraris that got off to a very fast start. Without a doubt, this afternoon was difficult for me. (…) I was a bit all over the place, held back by slower cars. I don’t really have words for what happened today and I think there’s a big part of poor performance on my side. I pushed, I didn’t give up but I feel like I made the wrong choices every time. It was a strange Sunday. Did I deserve to score points? I didn’t give up and I drove flat out. But this race shows we are human when we deliver such poor performances. The team was on top, not me. I’ll come back stronger. »
The Englishman didn’t make such a bad deal in the championship, as he managed to extend his lead over Nico Rosberg by four points. It doesn’t really affect him at the moment: “I haven’t yet had time to think about what happened. Am I relieved to finish 6th and score more points than Nico? I don’t know. I’m mostly thinking about the fact that I’ve had a very bad day at work. The team, in any case, made the right choices in terms of strategy, and I was able to take a few points. I said on the radio that I was sorry, sorry for my bad race.”
While he was in the running to win in the final laps of the race, Nico Rosberg nevertheless collided with Daniel Ricciardo and had to return to the pits, ending up in a very disappointing 8th place, behind Romain Grosjean’s exhausts. The German driver came very close to making a big impact this Sunday: « It was going very, very well for me until the 64th lap. I was happy with my car and after that I was nowhere. It’s really a shame, but that’s sport, these things happen sometimes. »
Nico Rosberg still can’t digest Daniel Ricciardo’s maneuver: «I was on my trajectory but he missed his braking. The FIA decided he didn’t deserve any penalty, so I think it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Now, I am simply eager to get back on the track because I am disgusted by this day.»
While both of his cars had locked out the front row, Toto Wolff quickly had to become disillusioned during the race. However, the team director knows that this Hungarian Grand Prix has greatly benefited the sport: “After a simply epic start, Ferrari deserves the victory, congratulations to them! We knew it would happen one day and it happened this Sunday: we experienced more incidents in one race than in the entire season so far.”
Mercedes must also blame its own top speed. In race pace, during the first part of the Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg was clearly not keeping up with the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen. To restore order in the field, Mercedes plans to upgrade its engine after the summer break, with possibly 50 more horsepower added into the mix.
