F1 News: Mercedes Boss Claims W14 Is Quick Enough To Beat Red Bull
Mercedes team principal and CEO Toto Wolff revealed that his team had the car to beat Max Verstappen and win the United States Grand Prix in Austin but, lost the No. 1 position as a result of its strategy and slow pit stops.
The Sunday race in Austin was by far Mercedes' and Lewis Hamilton's most competitive race of the season, aside from the disqualification, which arrived after the latest floor upgrade on the W14 F1 car that helped improve the car's pace quite dramatically.
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The upgrades helped to the extent that Hamilton was able to maintain a gap of just 2.225 seconds between Red Bull's RB19 in front. However, Wolff claimed that gap might have been eliminated had the team not lost precious time in an extended first tire stint, followed by the slow pit stops.
When he was asked by Motorsport.com if he felt that the team now had a car good enough to win, Wolff said:
“Yeah. I think the car was quick. Lewis drove fantastically and if I count all the things that went against us…
"You could say, maybe we could have gone for a two-stop and just cover him [Verstappen], and I think both stops were not great. But it's an equipment topic and not a human.
"And then we lost two seconds behind [Lando] Norris, and probably 1.5 seconds behind Ricciardo. But fair dues, this is how we race, and, at the end, it wasn't sufficient. So, no blame.”
The team boss added that the most important factor that caused the race to slip away was to extend the first stint by pushing for a single stop but that strategy fell apart quite badly. He continued:
“On last 19 or 20, when Max pitted, we knew that we only needed to make three more laps to make a one-stop stick.
"Then the performance just went downhill massively. And that probably was one or the reasons that we couldn't monetise. But overall, I think we need to be happy with the performance.”
Wolff also admitted that the team was inclined toward an alternate approach since it felt there was hardly any point in challenging a dominant Verstappen with the same strategy. He concluded:
“It certainly played a role in that we believed if we were on the same strategy, like Max, cover him, be a few seconds ahead of him, that would not be enough to win the race.
"And that's okay. He has been dominating all year. So that's a bit of a mindset you are taking into such a decision.
"With the one stop, we felt we could win, or there's more bigger chances to win. And at the end, the [tyre] performance was not as we thought.”
