Mercedes F1 team made ‘solid step forward’ with gearbox issue
Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff says his team made a “solid step forward” to avoid a repeat of its gearbox-related issues during Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were given “critical” instructions to avoid using the notoriously brutal kerbs at the Red Bull Ring at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix after encountering a gearbox problem on both cars.
Mercedes feared the issue might reoccur in the Styrian Grand Prix but the German manufacturer faced no concerns as Hamilton led home a 1-2 to claim his first victory of the 2020 season.
"We didn't have any concerns today," Wolff confirmed in his post-race media call in Austria.
"I was asking Simon [Cole] whether our systems were happy on a regular basis, because last weekend obviously was a bit of a scare.
"[The] gearbox was fine, and I'm really happy what the team did, what the guys did in fixing that. On the suspension, we saw stress on the suspension but no overload. So that was a solid step forward.”
However, Wolff stressed that the team cannot be “100% sure” that the problem has been fully resolved going forwards.
"When you have such a problem, you're never 100% sure that you've solved it, because we were not 100% clear what caused it,” he explained.
"We believe that sausage kerbs were part of it, but obviously we need to improve the design in these areas because they seem to be a little bit vulnerable.
"I have no doubt that we will get on top of this and understand it very soon.”
Race-winner Lewis Hamilton praised his team’s efforts to overcome the problem despite a short turnaround between back-to-back rounds in Austria.
"It wasn't a problem today, the guys did a great job during the week understanding what the issue was,” he said.
"It was nothing particularly major, but of course it could have had quite large consequences so they did a great job to rectify it.
"We haven't really heard them mention it since we started the weekend, so we were able to drive as normal today."
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