Lewis Hamilton attempted to complete his comeback in Suzuka after a bad start with an overtaking on Max Verstappen in the bars final of the Grand Prix of Japan. But the pilot Dutch modified its trajectory in the approach to the Casio chicane, leading to the last braking of the Mercedes driver, who lost the option of winning position.
After that, Mercedes filed a claim for what has happened, and the commissioners, did not appear in the circuit the riders involved, postponed the resolution until the Grand Prix this weekend in Austin. Finally, Mercedes withdrew the claim and the case was filed.
“Was the lack of communication”, explained Toto Wolff in a press conference held by the FIA in Austin. “When we checked out of the circuit, said that the maneuver Verstappen had been hard, but that is probably what we want to see in F1. It is refreshing and I think the riders need to fix it between themselves on the track. We decided not to intervene”.
The time to decide if her claim coincided with the return flight to Europe from the leadership of the Mercedes among whom was Toto Wolff and that caused that the decision is taken without consensus. “Then there was an unfortunate coincidence because we checked out and the team had a minute to decide if he was protesting or not. And that is what they did. Once we were able to communicate again, 30 minutes after take-off, we decided to withdraw the protest,” clarified Wolff, giving closed the matter.
Hamilton, very depressed
Lewis Hamilton has shown to be nervous in the last few races, probably affected by the fact that they had lost many title options after what happened in Malaysia and, more recently, in Suzuka. For Wolff, the pressure of this final stage of the championship is huge and is something that we must understand the time to analyze the acts of Hamilton. “I Think that generally all underestimate the pressure on these guys. A few races to finish the season everything is win or lose. And in Malaysia, when I was in the lead with 25 points to pick up, the engine exploded. it Was a very difficult situation to deal with. May seem good on the outside, but inside is eaten, and may be the reason that the weekend in Suzuka was a little complicated for him”.
Hamilton had problems with the press after being criticized for using his mobile phone during the press conference the Thursday before the race, but in Austin, things have returned to normal. “He knows exactly that there is a job that must be done on the car and other work outside and only need small reminders, no more, that is what happened. We had several conversations, but in general was on how we can improve things. Nothing really serious”.
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