Toto Wolff explains strategy that backfired for Lewis Hamilton at F1 Belgian GP
"But we had to cover Leclerc and Norris because we would’ve been undercut, so that was the call."
Toto Wolff has defended Mercedes’ decision to put Lewis Hamilton on a two-stop strategy after he initially lost out to F1 teammate George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton later was handed a 105th victory of his F1 career when Russell was disqualified due to an underweight car.
Hamilton was on a two-stop strategy - and on fresher tyres - while Russell was the only driver in the top 10 to make just one pit stop.
Track position proved to be critical as Russell fended off Hamilton to beat him on-track.
Hamilton appeared to be frustrated after the race at Spa, saying to Oscar Piastri in the cooldown room that his tyres were completely fine when he came into the pits on both occasions.
Speaking to Sky after the race, Wolff explained why they had no choice but to pit Hamilton.
“I’d like to have two winners today,” he said. “But we had to cover Leclerc and Norris because we would’ve been undercut, so that was the call. George had nothing to lose. We were P5.
“The one-stop and the two-stops were showing P5 so we just kept him out. He was very good. Lewis was very good.
“The strategy played for George, and not for Lewis. I’d like to have two winners today.”
Assessing Russell’s strategy, Wolff conceded that he didn’t think the one-stop strategy “was possible”.
“We didn’t think it was possible,” he added. “But, at a certain stage, we said ‘let’s stay out’ because we would have finished fifth anyway, in both scenarios. He made it last.”
Even factoring in Russell's DQ, it’s been a remarkable turnaround for Mercedes, having not finished on the podium up until the Canadian Grand Prix.
Since then, Mercedes have won three races out of four.
Wolff credited their turnaround on Friday after a disappointing showing in the Friday practice sessions.
“On Friday we weren’t competitive, so we expected, in the best case, a podium,” he explained. “Then the team did really work well overnight in Brackley. The engineers at the track took the right decision. The car was good on a one-stop.
“Overnight Friday to Saturday, Shov said ‘we’ve figured out what it is’. Their decision was good.
“We changed the floor. But I don’t think the new floor was bad. On the contrary, we found overnight that we’d tripped on a mechanical issue. We saw that the mechanical issue on the car was better. The new update on the car will come to Zandvoort - that was not the issue on Friday.”
