Lewis Hamilton had a tough time in the second practice session on Friday and could only secure the 18th position on the timingsheets. The start of the weekend for the seven-time world champion and Toto Wolff was disastrous. Hamilton had a mediocre performance in the first practice session at Albert Park, finishing in ninth place. However, his run in the second session was even worse as he ended up in 18th place. Now, it has been revealed that a crucial mistake by the Mercedes garage was responsible for Hamilton’s poor performance.
Previously, Hamilton had described his Friday outing as the worst in his career. Wolff disclosed that the Silver Arrows had attempted to experiment with the car setup for Albert Park but failed to achieve the desired performance.
Furthermore, Wolff stated that a significant setup change for Hamilton’s car in FP2 had backfired. The Mercedes team boss acknowledged that the team had been trying different setups in free practice due to the significant performance disparities.
Wolff emphasized that the setup on Russell’s car had worked better, but Mercedes was still struggling to maximize the performance of the W15. Despite some promising laps from the 26-year-old, Wolff admitted that Albert Park was not a favorable track for the Silver Arrows.
Mercedes had been dominant in Formula 1 during the Turbo Hybrid era, winning eight consecutive Constructors’ titles from 2014 to 2021 and seven consecutive Drivers’ championships. However, in the ground-effect era of the sport, the team has fallen behind Red Bull, with Hamilton not winning a race since 2021. The team’s last victory was achieved by George Russell in 2022 at Interlagos.
Wolff openly expressed his frustration with the team’s ongoing struggles. He acknowledged that the entire squad was frustrated and working hard in all areas but had yet to find a solution to make progress.
Both Hamilton and Russell might face difficulties in the Australian GP. The Silver Arrows have one final practice session to make necessary adjustments before Parc Ferme. The engineers under Wolff’s guidance will be striving to find the right changes before Qualifying at Albert Park.