Toto Wolff: “We must respect the commissioners”

The seventh victory of the season in seven Grands Prix contested offers a special taste to the clan for the moment Mercedes. The success of Lewis Hamilton was in fact obtained thanks to the sanction imposed on Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), found guilty of having returned to the track in a dangerous manner against the Briton, after a deviation from the trajectory at turns 3 and 4 in Montreal.

A penalty faced by Scuderia Ferrari indicated his intention to appeal, still leaving the new first place of the world champion in suspense, and which did not fail to provoke a reaction Toto wolff, boss of Mercedes-AMG F1.

“It’s good that there are emotions and that sport polarizes, says Wolff at the Canal + microphone. There is a rule and the rule says that if a driver goes off the track, you have to leave a space equivalent to a car, which was not the case.

But it's not black or white, it's not 100% one person's fault or the other. I think from my perspective it's more of a 60/40 decision in favor of Lewis. On the Ferrari side, we have to see it another way. We must accept all opinions.

Sebastian is not happy because he is the winner on track, and that was taken away from him by a penalty, but we must also respect the commissioners. There are some very experienced ones. Sometimes it goes our way, sometimes it doesn't. »

The Silver Arrows under pressure

If Mercedes continues its winning streak in F1 in 2019 (which even dates back to the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix), the German team will not have had an easy weekend in Canada. A round where the star-studded team brought an expected engine upgrade, but where the world champions had to face several technical problems on the W10s.

“We had to overcome some challenges this weekend, such as a fuel pressure issue on Valtteri's car on Friday and a hydraulic leak on Lewis' car on Sunday morning, which required almost the entire car to be rebuilt. , Wolff says.

We weren't even sure to start the race or if the car would finish. And all this is happening behind the scenes, I can only congratulate the team for the incredible effort they put in this weekend to be competitive. »

Discover the full report and analysis of the Canadian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Montreal, in issue 2220 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.