Wolff: “There will be no team orders”
The beginning of the season for the Silver Arrows is far from ideal. Hamilton is in great difficulty while his teammate George Russell manages to control his W13 and consistently bring it into the top 5. But Toto Wolff insists, there will be no favoritism.
Currently 6th in the driver standings and 34 points behind his compatriot George Russell, Lewis Hamilton’s start to the season is the least successful since his debut season in 2007. He has been beaten by his teammate in qualifying as well as in the race on 6 occasions out of the first 7 Grand Prix. The situation is not yet critical for Mercedes, but the results are not living up to expectations.
Will we see team orders during the season to favor George Russell’s championship race? « No, 100% no, it will not happen, » confirms Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal. « 100%, we will allow them to race until a driver is mathematically out of contention. We will not make any such appeals in favor of George, nor even in favor of Lewis. »
But if the order had been different, would the situation have been the same? « We discover George, but he wouldn’t have been sacrificed at the beginning of the season if the situation had been reversed. I think the pendulum will swing between them, that these unlucky situations stop for Lewis. They are roughly at the same pace. And it’s great to see how they work together to get our car back on track. Because that’s exactly what we need to do. »
Despite all of Lewis Hamilton’s recent misadventures, Toto Wolff believes that luck will turn in favor of Hamilton. We will have to wait until next weekend in Baku to see how the situation unfolds.
