Wolff: The race in Las Vegas was a reflection of the entire season

According to Toto Wolff, the Las Vegas Grand Prix was something of a reflection of the instability that has characterized Mercedes’ performance this season. On the one hand, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell showed a pace during the race that allowed them to qualify for the podium, on the other hand, they were both unlucky.

At the start, Lewis became one of the participants in numerous incidents in the first corner, falling back to 14th place, and when he was able to partially recover and reach the top ten, during a dispute for position with Oscar Piastri, one of the Mercedes’ wheels were punctured.

Hamilton did not immediately notice this and had already passed the entrance to the pit lane, which forced him to slowly return to the pits, losing about 15 seconds on that lap, and the original plan to cover the distance with a single pit stop had to be adjusted.

Russell crossed the finish line fourth, but finished only 8th in the final standings after receiving a 5-second time penalty for an incident with Max Verstappen.

Commenting on the events of the race, the head of the factory team of the Stuttgart concern said: “A bad race that sums up this season of ours, despite the fact that we have a fast car with which we can fight for the podium.

Look at the pace we were capable of when we were on an open track – we were riding at the pace of the leaders. When Lewis was not bothered by traffic, he showed very good lap times. But he was involved in two incidents, and then George confronted Max.

Again, this was a reflection of the entire season. Under such conditions you cannot win and fight for leadership. You are the master of your own luck, but this time we were unlucky, so we ended up taking 7th and 8th place. Both cars could have finished in the top three, but they didn’t.”

However, Wolff believes that the weekend was a success overall, despite all the difficulties that came with the first Las Vegas Grand Prix: “It was a great weekend. You can remember that the race was spectacular, it attracted a big crowd, the stage as a whole went well and we saw an interesting battle. Personally, I will remember the first Las Vegas Grand Prix for this very reason; it met our expectations in every respect.”

When Wolff was asked what he thought needed to be improved, he replied: “Logistics. Maybe we can somehow solve the problems associated with the transportation situation in Las Vegas. I don’t want to nitpick about the little things because everything was great. But if you take a closer look at the weekend schedule, qualifying might have to take place a little earlier. Although if you look at the picture as a whole, everything was great.”