Toto Wolff: “We would have done the same in reverse order”

No doubt that Lewis Hamilton would not have thought of such a result at the start of the German Grand Prix yesterday. Relegated to the second half of the grid after the hydraulic problems encountered on his W09 in qualifying, the Briton made another comeback into the top positions and took advantage of the exit of Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), then instructions passed to Valtteri Bottas to achieve significant success with a view to the championship.

On his land, Mercedes-AMG F1 signs a double marked with the seal of orders passed to preserve the result. And Toto wolff, boss of the German team, to argue about his decision.

“Valtteri intended to play the one-stop strategy, and seemed to be in a better position with his tires than the Ferraris in front of him. Likewise, Lewis had good race pace on the soft tires and then was ready to chase down the leading drivers in the second part of the race.

Things were pretty chaotic when the safety car came out. It was a very late call, a lot of talk on the radio and we ended up with one car in the pits and one car left on the track.

In the end, this covered all options for us. With so much at stake, and after the misfortune of the last few weeks, we made the choice to tell Valtteri to stay in his position. We would have done the same if the cars had been in reverse order, because we had to protect the double and avoid losing one or two cars. »

With this result, both Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' standings and Mercedes in the Constructors' championship regain the advantage before the next meeting this weekend at the Hungaroring in Budapest.

Discover the full report and analysis of the German Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Hockenheim, in issue 2175 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version, and this Wednesday on newsstands.