Toto Wolff explains why he issued Lewis Hamilton a stern team radio warning at Austrian GP
Toto Wolff called out Lewis Hamilton in a team radio warning during yesterday's Austrian Grand Prix.
F1 preview: A lap of the Austrian Grand Prix
Toto Wolff has opened up as to why he issued Lewis Hamilton a stern warning during the Austrian Grand Prix. The Mercedes boss addressed Hamilton over team radio after the seven-time champion suffered a meltdown during the race.
Hamilton had complained about F1’s track limit rules, questioned his five-second penalty and shouted at Sergio Perez during the opening stages. He had also highlighted issues with the W14 including problems with the car’s steering.
It prompted Wolff to take over from race engineer Peter Bonnington as he delivered a simple message to the 38-year-old. Wolff said: “Lewis the car is bad we know, please drive it.”
Wolff has since clarified why he got involved, revealing it was simply to “calm” Hamilton who was getting flustered over the microphone. He explained: “It was only for the best interests of the driver and the team. Sometimes there is a certain moment when you need to calm things down, but I meant well.
“We had a lot of discussion beforehand about track limits and I wanted to make sure we were getting the best out of the package, which wasn’t performing, and just giving it our best shot.” Mercedes struggled for pace in Austria with the German marque taking a noticeable step back in performance.
The squad had achieved some great results since new upgrades were introduced in Monaco last month. They picked up a double podium in Spain while Hamilton was again in the top three at the Canadian Grand Prix.
However, the marque fell behind Ferrari and McLaren in Spielberg as their rivals brought key new parts. After the race, Wolff assessed it had been a poor day for the former world champions.
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He commented: “It's a bruising day I would say because we had such a good upward trend and you have to take such a day. There was no pace and no inkling why yet."
Hamilton enjoyed an early battle with Lando Norris but fell away as the race progressed. He crossed the line P7 but was later demoted behind team-mate George Russell as he was handed another five-second penalty hours after the race.
Hamilton explained: “Didn't expect to be as bad as we were today. I don't really have an answer for it really. It was definitely surprising. The feeling of the car was very much the same feeling I've had all last year.
"It was definitely different than the last two races, the last two races were way, way better. In terms of the characteristics of the car, it was fundamentally the same (as last year)."