Wolff’s revealing update on Hamilton’s replacement

Toto Wolff admitted ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that his old rival Dr Helmut Marko was right about Mercedes’ Achilles heel, namely the warm weather conditions. After winning in Austria and at Silverstone, where the track and air temperatures were cool, Mercedes went into the race at the Budapest circuit with trepidation.

The team made a glaring mistake in qualifying, as on a drying track they failed to provide George Russell with enough fuel to continue through to the end of the Q1 session. The track development was so great that Daniel Ricciardo finished last in Q1, leading the timesheets for that session with his V-CARB.

Hamilton was also on the edge in the second qualifying session before became the meat in a Ferrari sandwich when he qualified fifth behind Charles Leclerc and ahead of Carlos Sainz. After a messy start, Hamilton found himself trailing Verstappen as the pair began their battle for P3 that would last until the end of the Grand Prix.

Russell, who started in P17, fought his way through the field together with Sergio Perez, but Red Bull managed to force an undercut for their driver at the final pit stops. George could not make up for this as he finished in P8, behind the Mexican driver.

Despite his ageing tyres, Lewis held off a fierce attack from the world champion, but with seven laps to go the two came together in controversial fashion, with Max claiming Lewis had gone too far under braking, while Hamilton accused Verstappen of losing control.

By running off the track, Charles Leclerc was able to pass Verstappen, who was then challenged by the tyres for a lap or two before the Dutchman realised he didn’t have the speed to retake the Ferrari driver’s position. Still, a P3 for Hamilton and P8 for Russell were better results than expected given the circumstances.

Temperatures were higher than the previous two events, but the Mercedes car performed well against Verstappen who struggled with understeer throughout the race. However, Toto Wolff blamed the heat, telling Sky F1 after the chequered flag, “I don’t think these circumstances are for us.

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“It’s warm and finishing third on the podium has to be considered a success, although too much went wrong with the other car yesterday to have a better position.”

McLaren were concerned at the final round of pit stops that Mercedes had scheduled the undercut for Lewis Hamilton to overtake Lando Norris, so they pitted the British driver ahead of Piastri, which is outside normal protocol as the race leader normally gets the first service.

When asked if this was Mercedes’ plan, Wolff denied that this was the team’s design. He stated: “Ah no, I think the McLarens were quite out of reach.

“We probably stretched Lewis’ tyre too much in the second stint and he eventually fell off, so we learned a lot from it anyway. But congratulations McLaren, they deserved first and second place. It was overdue for a while.”

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Hamilton finished the Grand Prix just under fifteen seconds behind winner Oscar Piastri, although without McLaren giving team orders the gap to Norris would have been around 20 seconds before he was told to slow down and let Oscar through. This lack of pace was due to the warm track conditions and with a battle royal being fought out at the front.

After pitting Lando first at the final round of stops, McLaren gave him the lead while Piastri continued for two more laps. The Woking team clearly realised that their two cars would be on the same stretch of tarmac when Oscar came in on the lap after Norris, and elected to let him circulate again, creating a gap between the drivers.

Norris was then ordered by the team to hand over his position to his teammate. This led to a lot of discussion, something that Toto Wolff has also experienced in the past. “We’ve been there,” said Toto, clearly thinking back to the time when Rosberg and Hamilton were battling each other.

And so until this weekend, Wolff is “hoping for an ice-cold Belgium” because in cooler conditions the W15 performs better. Currently, the forecast for Spa Francochamps is not going to bring much joy to the Mercedes boss, with ambient temperatures on Friday predicted to be around 23 degrees Celsius and with just 0.8mm of rain forecast, Hamilton and Russell will struggle to find a good balance in practice for the rest of the weekend.

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Saturday looks more promising for the silver arrows with clouds and rain on their radar and a maximum temperature of just 20 degrees. Race day will also be cooler but the chance of rain for the whole day is only 2% (according to Acu Weather).

In Hungary, Toto Wolff gave an update on his thoughts on Lewis Hamilton’s replacement

Toto Wolff has given more information about his thoughts on Lewis Hamilton’s soon-to-be vacant seat at Mercedes. Kimi Antonelli is of course in the picture, especially after his F2 feature race win at the Hungaroring. However, Toto decided to praise other drivers in the Mercedes camp.

“When it comes to Fred (Frederik Vesti), he’s done his job, but there’s just no way to formula 1 at the moment,” the Mercedes team boss told the assembled press.

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“And he will be a professional driver who rides at a high level, whether it’s endurance or anything else – and on top of that he’s a top guy.”

Wolff seems to suggest there will be no room in the F1 inn for Vesti, but as far as Mick Schumacher is concerned, that may not be the case.

“I can’t say a bad word about Mick (Schumacher) either. They both do a great job for the team, keep supporting us in the simulator,” Wolff revealed.

“They are also a bit of the unsung heroes, because you don’t see them, but they spent the nights from Friday to Saturday in the simulator to do that work. And Mick deserves a seat too, I really enjoyed having him (as) part of the family.”

The Mercedes boss still appears to be torn between making a “bold” move, as he called it when announcing Hamilton’s departure, and trying to give Antonelli a less conspicuous spot somewhere on the grid.

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Carlos Sainz is likely to wait a little longer for Toto’s decision, as the Spaniard may be given a year to prove his worth alongside George Russell.

Still, comments that Mick Schumacher deserves a seat could indicate that Wolff is considering giving the German a one-year deal. However, this would depend on whether Antonelli can find a 2025 F1 seat elsewhere.

“(I will) make a decision on the drivers later this year, when all the dust has settled – what is best for Mercedes,” Wolff said when asked about Verstappen again.

“I can’t look too much at what’s happening at Red Bull… I want to focus on us, and by us we mean Kimi (Andrea Kimi Antonelli) in Formula 2 today, and our two drivers in Formula 1.”

Mercedes could fill Hamilton’s seat internally, which Wolff seems to suggest in his latest update – unless Verstappen leaves Red Bull, of course.

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McLaren F1 conspired to ruin their first 1-2 Formula 1 finish for the team since 2012, with poor race strategy and driver management. Oscar Piastri took his first victory in the sport, although he later admitted the circumstances surrounding his win “not ideal.”

After McLaren messed up their strategy somewhat last time out at Silverstone, it looked like they didn’t want to give Lewis Hamilton the undercut on Norris as the Mercedes ran in P3 behind the leading McLaren duo.

This meant a change of protocol for the final round of pit stops, with the team attempting to stop Norris first to cover Hamilton who passed him on fresh tyres. McLaren then made the strange decision not to let Oscar pit the next time, forcing the young Australian to complete two full laps before receiving his final set of pod tyres… READ MORE