Mercedes Deep Dives Into USGP Upgrades After Lewis Hamilton Crash

Saajan Jogia | Oct 22, 2024

Oct 18, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team driver Lewis Hamilton (44) of Team Great Britain drives during practice for the 2024 US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has acknowledged that the upgrade package introduced at the United States Grand Prix in Austin did not cause the team’s unexplainable problems that led to both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell crashing in the same location during the weekend. Wolff refuted Hamilton's theory that the upgrades were to blame for the car's erratic performance and the crash.

Russell crashed out during Q3 at Turn 19 of the Circuit of the Americas, triggering a yellow flag situation. The impact severely damaged the front-right section of his W15, prompting Mercedes to revert to the previous specification of the car. Hamilton also crashed at the same spot during Sunday’s Grand Prix, despite not pushing the car to its limits.

Reflecting on the race weekend, the seven-time world champion suggested a possible link between the new upgrade package and the similar circumstances of the accidents, indicating that these upgrades might have played a role in the crashes. However, Wolff clarified that there is no fundamental issue with the upgrades and confirmed that the team will continue to utilize them for the upcoming race in Mexico. He told the media:

"I don't think we have a fundamental issue on the upgrade, very much.

“My thinking is it's more interaction on aero and on mechanical stuff.

"Therefore we're going to continue with the upgrade. It makes no sense to not, because there's a lot of lap time you leave on the table.

“However, on the other side, you need to be very open-minded. George drove the July upgrade [in the race] because we didn't have the [new] floor, and that seemed pretty competitive.”

The decision comes despite a shortage of new parts, but Wolff isn't sure if Hamilton wants to opt for the new package. He added:

“Clearly, we will be missing the floor that needs to go back to the UK and then be repaired for Brazil.

“With Lewis, normally he would have all the parts, but I'm not 100% sure that he's keen on running that. So we're going to find out how we want to tackle that weekend.” 

The Mercedes chief explained the inconsistent performance of the car during the race weekend, emphasizing that his team needs to get to the root cause of the problem. He also added that Hamilton's crash at COTA was not his fault. He said:

“We need to get on top of why do we have a car that on Friday is by far the quickest, before the [Franco Colapinto situation [with the yellow flag]. Lewis was four tenths up and he would have been quickest.

“Then on a Saturday, it's transformed. In the sprint race, we had a broken suspension. That's one explanation. We fixed that in qualifying, but nothing would go anymore, and we struggled to have pace.

“Then in the race was the incident [for Hamilton] in that corner that came out of nowhere. He was not pushing at all. And where I sit at the moment, it's 100% not Lewis's fault.”