08 November 2023 , 07:00
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Radio antics were "a complete sideshow" to Mercedes' real problems at the Brazilian Grand Prix, said Toto Wolff.
Lewis Hamilton only managed eighth in the race while George Russell was behind his team-mate when he had to retire. Wolff later said the weekend was the worst the team had endured in its 13-year history.
But the Grand Prix started off in promising fashion. Both drivers made up places with good launches off the line while Fernando Alonso got the better of Hamilton after a restart, leaving one Mercedes car tailing the other on the road.
This presented the opportunity for them to work together. Russell specifically said he would not attack his team-mate and said they should combine their efforts, only to become quite annoyed when Hamilton pulled out of DRS range to leave him exposed to the lurking Sergio Perez, who got past both of them.
And Russell's mood had not improved by the 17th lap when he was asked by race engineer Ricardo Musconi to manage his tyres. "Do you want me to race or concede positions? With more management, I will go backwards," was his snappy retort.
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And he was no more happy when, later in the race, he was sat on the gearbox of the slower-moving Hamilton unhappy that no order had been given for them to switch positions. "I haven't been on the radio because I thought it was quite obvious about the pace," was his message, dripping with sarcasm.
Later, when Hamilton's race engineer Pete Bonnington asked his driver to "use the tyres now", the seven-time world champion's response was to laugh. He then replied: "I have been for the last five laps, dude," both drivers clearly not happy with their tyre degradation and lack of pace.
Because of how poor the Mercedes cars performed, Wolff spent little time thinking about the tension between his drivers over the radio. He was questioned about it after the race but made it clear he has other priorities right now.
"I think the race [management] and the messages for us today are completely irrelevant," said the Austrian. "There was nothing to manage or nothing to say, it's a complete sideshow. I think the fundamental issue is that the car was slow.
"So I've no problem with things being broadcasted or not because whether it's controversial or not, fundamentally, if there's no performance like that and it's off, then who cares?"