Lewis Hamilton misery over US GP disqualification made worse by Wolff admission

23 October 2023 , 14:02

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Lewis Hamilton collected his trophy on the US GP podium but was later stripped of it (Image: Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Toto Wolff declared Lewis Hamilton had the pace to beat Max Verstappen at the United States Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver finished the race second behind his Red Bull rival who won yet again. But the gap between them was significantly smaller than it has been all year, Hamilton finishing just 2.2 seconds behind the race winner.

He was closing on Verstappen all the time in the final few laps, on medium tyres for that last stint while the Dutchman was on harder rubber. But he just ran out of time to catch up before the chequered flag flew.

It meant nothing in the end anyway as post-race FIA scrutineering checks found the rear skids on the floor if his Mercedes were not in conformity with F1 rules. Hamilton was disqualified, as was Charles Leclerc after a similar issue was discovered on his Ferrari.

Looking back at the race, team principal Wolff said he felt Hamilton had shown he had the pace to get the better of Verstappen had the strategy been a little more optimised. "Yeah. I think the car was quick," he replied when asked if that was the case.

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"Lewis drove fantastically and if I count all the things that went against us... You could say, maybe we could have gone for a two-stop and just cover [Verstappen], and I think both stops were not great.

"But it's an equipment topic and not a human. And then we lost two seconds behind [Lando] Norris, and probably 1.5 seconds behind [Daniel] Ricciardo. But fair dues, this is how we race and, at the end, it wasn't sufficient. So, no blame."

He went on to suggest he felt his Mercedes team had shown too much respect to Verstappen. Fear over being able to go toe-to-toe with his fearsome Red Bull on track led to the team opting for an alternative strategy rather than simply trying to beat the Dutchman in a straight fight.

Wolff added: "It certainly played a role in that we believed if we were on the same strategy, like Max, cover him, be a few seconds ahead of him, that would not be enough to win the race.

"And that's okay. He has been dominating all year. So that's a bit of a mindset you are taking into such a decision. With the one-stop, we felt we could win, or there's more bigger chances to win. And at the end, the [tyre] performance was not as we thought."

Daniel Moxon