Wolff warns Hamilton that upgrade WON'T be challenging Red Bull
Toto Wolff warns Lewis Hamilton that Mercedes WON’T be ‘driving circles’ around runaway leaders Red Bull with their next upgrade… as Silver Arrows prepare to unveil revamped car to make him more competitive in Miami
- Mercedes’ long-discussed upgrades will be revealed at the end of the month
- But Hamilton is unlikely to find himself contesting historic eighth championship
- Azerbaijan GP: Sergio Perez powers to win in duel against Red Bull team-mate
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has attempted to manage the expectations of his star driver Lewis Hamilton ahead of unveiling the team’s long-awaited upgrades.
The Silver Arrows will be introducing a revamped W14 ahead of Imola at the end of May, but the modifications are unlikely to put Hamilton on level footing with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s Red Bulls.
The British constructor recorded a one-two finish in Baku on Sunday, with Perez’s victory over his world champion team-mate seeing him keep pace with Vestappen in the drivers standings.
Hamilton finished 46 seconds behind Sergio Perez after a muted weekend to claim sixth place, and his team-mate George Russell finished a less-impressive eighth.
The result leaves the seven-time world champion 45 points off Verstappen at the top of the standings after a scant four races.
Lewis Hamilton has been desperate for a Mercedes’ upgrade but must manage expectations
Sergio Perez’s win in Baku on Sunday saw the Red Bull finish 21 seconds clear of second place
The driver has spoken often about his excitement to see the car finessed and competitive, but his principal has urged his drivers to stay realistic.
‘The target [for the upgrade] is Imola but I need to manage everybody’s expectations,’ Wolff said after Sunday’s race.
‘We are talking so much about the upgrade but we are not going to put it down on the track and drive circles around Red Bull.’
Toto Wolff has cautioned his drivers ahead of revealing the adjustments made in Italy
Red Bull have won 14 of the last 15 races across this season and last in a show of dominance not dissimilar to Mercedes’ in the thick of Hamilton’s multi-championship-winning stint between 2017 and 2020.
But Perez’s performance in Azerbaijan has fueled thinking that this season will not be a procession ahead of Verstappen winning his third consecutive title.
The Mexican driver is now just six points behind his team-mate and well within striking distance heading into the fifth race of the season.
The season, however, is unlikely to prove anything other than a two-horse race.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari claimed pole position but finished second behind Perez – who started from third – by 21 seconds.
Wolff noted of the gap: ‘Over 40 racing laps that’s half a second a lap. At least we saw that they [Red Bull] were pushing today, but half-a-second is quite a long way to go.
‘We basically have two cars that are sailing off into the sunset on merit. We either have to do a better job, all of us together, to catch them up, or change the regulations.
Perez is nipping at the heels of his team-mate and two-time world champion Max Verstappen
But Hamilton has his W14 be competitive, clinching second at the Australian Grand Prix in April
‘And I don’t think we should be doing the second. We have to win on merit and that means being more clever.’
Before the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on May 21, drivers will travel to Miami, where Wolff will hope his drivers are able to get a song out of their present iteration of the W14.
In Melbourne at the beginning of April both Hamilton and Russell stormed to second and third-place finishes in qualifying to line up at the front of the pack on raceday.
Hamilton clinched a second-place finish, and said after the race that he believed he could finish as well again in the same car, by focusing on fine margins and ‘cheeky’ results.
Source: Read Full Article