Toto Wolff Sheds Light on Hamilton’s “Extensive” Floor Damage in Frustrating Austrian GP Pursuit to P4

Toto Wolff discloses significant damage to the car's floor contributed to Lewis Hamilton's challenging performance, resulting in a fourth-place finish in Austria.

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA – Toto Wolff disclosed that Lewis Hamilton encountered significant damage to his car's floor while securing a fourth-place finish at the F1 Austrian Grand Prix.

In the wake of a crash involving Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, George Russell capitalized on the chaos to secure an unexpected victory, while his Mercedes counterpart, Hamilton, experienced a disappointing race at the Red Bull Ring.

The seven-time world champion incurred a five-second time penalty early on for crossing the pit lane entry's white line during his first stop, eventually losing the last podium position to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

In a conversation with journalists, including those from Crash.net in Austria, Wolff detailed that Hamilton's performance in the race suffered due to damage to his car's floor. The Mercedes team leader estimated that this issue slowed the British driver by approximately 0.25 seconds every lap.

"Wolff conceded that it wasn't his best performance, noting, 'He had a fairly good beginning but then, right at Turn 1, lap one, having to relinquish his spot was quite tough.'"

"It was quite evident that failing to do so wouldn't result in a 10-second penalty."

"Subsequently, things began to unravel. He exerted significant pressure upon entering, evident from the extent of his effort, which led to the rear losing control, and naturally, this resulted in the subsequent penalty being incurred."

Additionally, there was significant damage to the floor due to a kerb impact, which seems to be a common issue, but in this case, it was particularly severe.

"Approximately a quarter of it chipped away at the curb. Thus, there's no cause for anger or distress."

Hamilton characterized his performance as "quite surprising" yet expressed happiness for Mercedes' comeback to success following a year without wins in 2023.

"Quite surprising," Hamilton expressed to Sky Sports F1. "However, I'm genuinely pleased for the team.

"Congratulations to the entire factory team and George for achieving such outstanding results after putting in a tremendous amount of effort. It's truly well earned."

When questioned about why his race performance was surprising, Hamilton responded, "I've just been quite underwhelming all weekend. Despite putting in the effort, we've been generally lacking pace. It's simply not up to standard."

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