Following Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the United States Grand Prix, both the seven-time Formula One World Champion and Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff shared their reactions.
Hamilton expressed his disappointment at the disqualification, acknowledging the team’s efforts and his own performance during the race. He stated that they would use this setback as motivation to come back stronger in the next race.
Toto Wolff, on the other hand, took responsibility for the team’s setup error that led to the disqualification. He admitted that they had made a mistake and emphasized the importance of learning from it to prevent a recurrence in future races.
Both Hamilton and Wolff remain determined and committed to maintaining their competitive edge in the ongoing Formula One season.
Toto Wolff, the Team Principal of Mercedes, has openly admitted that their team made a critical error in the car’s setup, leading to Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the United States Grand Prix.
This seven-time Formula One World Champion had delivered an impressive performance, putting up a strong challenge against Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team at the Circuit of the Americas.
However, a post-race inspection revealed that the plank on Hamilton’s car had worn down excessively during the race, which caused it to fall short of compliance with the sport’s Technical Regulations. Consequently, this non-compliance resulted in Hamilton’s unfortunate disqualification from the race.
“It is of course disappointing to be disqualified post-race but that doesn’t take away from the progress we’ve made this weekend,” said Hamilton after his disqualification.
As Formula One headed to the most recent Sprint event of the season, teams were presented with a setup challenge, and the notorious bumps at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) created quite a havoc during the only practice session.
Mercedes appeared to have found the solution with their upgrade package. However, it later became evident that they had unwittingly fallen foul of the regulations by the race’s conclusion.
“Set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice – and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package,” explained Wolff.
“In the end, all of that doesn’t matter; others got it right where we got it wrong and there’s no wiggle room in the rules. We need to take it on the chin, do the learning, and come back stronger next weekend.”
