Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was unable to take part in last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix because he had knee surgery. Instead, he followed his team from home. Although he was not present at the scene, that did not prevent him from giving orders to his two pilots. According to a report published by Italian publication Motorsport.com, Wolff ordered Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to use Carlos Sainz’s tactics against the Spaniard in the final laps of the race . However, the Austrian’s order did not go as planned as Sainz passed Russell. Because Mercedes could not find the optimal strategy to keep Sainz behind the 25-year-old player, Hamilton was angry.
Speaking to the media after the race, the 38-year-old driver said (as quoted by Racingnews365.com): “I don’t think it’s a good idea. When they offered it to me, I knew they’d obviously been thinking about it since the last race, and it didn’t make any sense. I have to go as far as possible.” Hamilton believes that since Mercedes asked him to hand over DRS to Russell, he himself has become vulnerable to Sainz. As a result, it was very difficult for him to keep the Ferrari driver in the final laps.
Lewis Hamilton is not happy with Toto Wolff.
According to Italian publication Motorsport.com (as cited by Soymotor.com), it was Toto Wolff who took the lead in the final laps of the Japanese Grand Prix. The Austrian wants George Russell to let Lewis Hamilton pass, in the hope the 38-year-old can provide the front-runner with a DRS to defend against Carlos Sainz. As soon as the Spaniard saw Mercedes playing cards in front of him, he went to his team’s radio station and described how they were trying to use his own strategy against him. The 29-year-old driver successfully used DRS in the Singapore Grand Prix to win the first race of the 2023 season.
In this case, the Ferrari driver intentionally provided DRS to second-placed Lando Norris to counter the fast approaching Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton. Sainz’s strategy worked perfectly as Norris was able to defend against both Silver Arrows and as a result the Spaniard maintained his lead without much pressure.
While Sainz used this strategy perfectly to defend his position, the Mercedes team failed to do so. After the race, the Ferrari driver explained why he believes the Silver Arrows made a tactical mistake.
Sainz believes that Mercedes should never have changed seats
Carlos Sainz believes (quoted by Crash.net) that Mercedes made the wrong decision to swap George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to defend its position against itself. Instead, the Spaniard believes that if Russell gets ahead of Hamilton, the 38-year-old will be able to successfully defend against him.
Sainz later added that he found it extremely amusing to see how Mercedes used their own strategy against him. The 29-year-old said he could see Hamilton deliberately dropping back to ensure Russell got DRS against him.