Toto Wolff explains Lewis Hamilton's qualifying struggles

This is the big surprise of this race weekend in Jeddah. A week after an unexpected podium in Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton experienced his first elimination in Q1 since the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix. If the Briton had gone off the track during his first flying lap at Interlagos, it is the first time since Silverstone in 2009 that he found himself eliminated on his level of performance.

The difficulties of Mercedes since the start of the season cannot alone explain this mishap, because George Russell managed to get into Q3 and will start in sixth position on the grid this Sunday. This is certainly not the position expected by the Brackley team, but it remains a surprising contrast compared to that of its illustrious elder. So what happened to the seven-time world champion? 

“The car was impossible to drive”

“This is the second race of the season and another confirmation that we are not where we want to be and need to be, Explain Toto wolff, the boss of the stable. On the Lewis side we experienced a setup that was worse, and the consequence was that there was no rear grip and the car was undriveable. For George, I think today was a good effort considering we only had one set of soft tires for Q3, so it was solid work from him. Nevertheless, the optimal scenario for us today was the no man's land between Red Bull et Alpine, and this is certainly not acceptable. »

Andrew Shovlin, head of track engineering at Mercedes, elaborated on the problems encountered by the German team: “We know we are not fast enough at the moment and Lewis' exit in Q1 is just a symptom of that. We struggled here on one-lap pace, it was more of a challenge than in Bahrain and we already weren't fast enough there. Porpoising is priority number one because it prevents us from riding the way we want to. We have some leads that give us a good direction but it takes us a while to get them as parts on the car. »

One of the solutions for this Sunday could be to make radical changes to the car of Lewis Hamilton, as mentioned by the latter, even if it means making him start from the pit lane.

ALSO READ > Hamilton eliminated in Q1: “I can’t wait to go home”