Wolff shares Hamilton’s GREAT verdict on Mercedes’ progress

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff  joked that Lewis Hamilton was pleased with  his W14 performance for the first time this year after The seven-time champion’s best result of the season was second in Mexico Grand Prix.

During Hamilton’s 17-year  Formula One career, the British driver  developed a reputation for whining on the radio.

Whether he was complaining that his tires weren’t durable, his pit strategy was poor or even that the safety car was too slow, Hamilton was ready to get what he wanted.

Mercedes’ recent struggles  have certainly tested Hamilton’s patience, with the 38-year-old racing against some of the least competitive machinery of his career over the past two seasons.

Hamilton rarely praises the W14 for meeting expectations, but in Mexico it seemed like car and driver were finally going hand in hand.

Speaking after Hamilton’s second-place finish, team boss Wolff joked that it was the first time this season that he has been happy with the car.

“Today I think it was a first where he said ‘the car is actually good!’ But it was a brilliant, brilliant drive and we have these oscillations in performance.

We don’t really know, sometimes the tyres stick, sometimes not.

“The smiles on our faces because the car was strong.

I think once Lewis was in free air, we had so much margin on the medium, fastest lap at the end. It’s good.”

Mercedes close to victory?
It’s been a year since Mercedes last won a race, with George Russell winning at Interlagos in 2022, but they came as close as they could, times this season.

After the victorious battle between Hamilton and Max Verstappen in Austin, it seemed only a matter of time before the Germans returned to the top – if they could avoid penalties Such a temple deprived Hamilton of the  podium  in the US, thought Mercedes would finish first, and the team principal pointed out that better qualifying and straight-line speed were the key factors.

“I’m not sure,” Wolff replied. “We told ourselves ‘we could have’ for a couple of weekends but we didn’t do it.

I think we need to qualify better and maybe at straight line speed it won’t be competitive with the Max but who knows? The rhythm is there.”