‘Clear’ situation in Lewis Hamilton US GP incident as Toto Wolff casts verdict

Toto Wolff is “100 per cent” not blaming Lewis Hamilton for spinning out of the United States Grand Prix, the team boss saying it’s “clear” the issue was the car.

Lining up 17th on the grid after a shock Q1 elimination in qualifying, Hamilton made an incredible start to run P12 on Lap 2. That, though, is where it ended for him.

Lewis Hamilton’s US GP spin was ‘100 per cent not Lewis’ fault’

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Heading into Turn 19, the seven-time World Champion lost control of the rear of the W15 and spun off the track and into the gravel trap where his Mercedes was beached.

Hamilton was baffled by his off.

“I had a great start, was feeling good and got up to 12th,” he said when asked by PlanetF1.com about his race retirement. “I wasn’t even pushing at that point; I was literally just trying to get going and bringing the tyres up to temperature.

“The car started bouncing. The left front started bouncing, and the rear end just came around, the same as George [in qualifying].”

Suffering a near-identical incident to his team-mate, Hamilton questioned if it was an issue with the car especially as Russell wasn’t having similar issues in the Grand Prix having reverted to an older spec.

“In P1 I had the same thing,” he said. “I had the spin in Turn 3, which is so rare. I have never spun in Turn 3 in all the years I’ve been here.

“I was just saying about George obviously having the same problem yesterday, he has gone back to the old-spec car and is looking good out there, so maybe there is something with the new upgrade.”

Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff confirmed Hamilton’s theory, adamant he was not just saying that to protect the driver.

“Where I sit at the moment it’s 100 per cent not Lewis’ fault and that’s not to say that I’m protecting him,” he said in his post-race media briefing that included PlanetF1.com.

“It’s clear it was gusty, there was a slipstream, how does all of that interact?”

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‘Lewis Hamilton doesn’t lose the car like this’

Wolff reiterated this to Sky Sports when asked what had gone wrong to lead to Hamilton spinning out of the race.

“100 per cent car,” he stated. “He was not even pushing at that stage.

“We saw it with George on Saturday, perhaps that was maybe over-pushing it, but still abrupt losing it and putting it in the wall.

“Today, there was wind and a bit of dirty air from the car in front. We definitely have an issue. I don’t know if yesterday was the same.

“Lewis Hamilton doesn’t lose the car on lap [two] like this.”

Toto Wolff refutes ‘fundamental issue’ suggestion

Wolff though, is confident it’s not a “fundamental issue” with Mercedes’ Austin upgrade, saying they will continue with the new package at the next race in Mexico.

“I don’t think we have a fundamental issue with the upgrades, very much,” he explained to the media including PlanetF1.com. “I think it’s more interaction, more aero and mechanical stuff.

“And therefore, I mean, we’re going to continue with the upgrade, makes no sense to not because there’s a lot of lap time you leave on the table. But on the other side you need to be very open-minded.

“It’s more about getting on top of why do we have a car that, on Friday, is by far the quickest before the Colapinto situation – [Hamilton] was four-tenths up and the last sector was just trouble, but he would have been quickest – and then on Saturday it’s transformed.

“In the Sprint race, we had a broken suspension, that’s one explanation. We fixed that in qualifying and nothing would go anymore, we struggled with pace.

“Today an incident in that corner that came out of nowhere, he was not pushing at all.”

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