After seven races of the season, George Russell is 34 points ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff attributes this difference to the seven-time world champion’s bad luck and not to the young driver’s speed advantage.
Toto Wolff: “Lewis has been unlucky lately – in qualifying in Monaco he was prevented by red flags, in the race there was a collision with Esteban Ocon and then Lewis was completely trapped behind Fernando Alonso. Sooner or later the pendulum will swing the other way and Lewis’ bad luck will stop. Our drivers show the same speed, work together and do everything they can to improve the car.
Alonso’s speed? If someone can slow down for five seconds and still stop the rest, then something has to be done with the track. Fernando drove at the pace of a Formula 2 car.
I can hardly imagine how you can change the configuration of the track. The section in the tunnel is already so fast – it might make sense to remove the chicane at the exit of the tunnel, but then you’ll have to brake harder before taking the Tabac corner. In any case, Formula 1 needs a stage in Monaco and Monaco needs Formula 1.”
Speaking of the prospects for the battle against Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, Toto Wolff was not too optimistic: “In terms of speed, we are the third team. If nothing else happens, fifth place is our maximum. Of course it’s nice if there’s a chance to climb onto the podium, but we want to fight for places in the top three, not by chance, but by the speed of the car.
The backlog of Ferrari and Red Bull remained the same. At best we give five tenths of the circle, at worst eight tenths. This is unacceptable.
To change the concept of the car, it is necessary to understand what the faster concept should be. If we had known this, we would have done it a long time ago. If the gap with the frontrunners cannot be narrowed and we understand that we have to switch to the preparations for next year, we will make this difficult decision, but it has not yet been taken.”
Source: F1 News
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