Mercedes decided to pit George Russell quite late in the race, making him lose track position to Lewis Hamilton, and Toto Wolff explained why that was the right choice.
The Britton was ahead of his seven-time world-champion teammate with just a few laps to go. When Russell was asked if he wanted to pit, he actually agreed. By doing so, he lost track position, but at least he scored the fastest lap of the Grand Prix.
Wolff explained that the decision to make one pit stop more was logical. The Brackley-based outfit wanted to outscore at least one Red Bull (the one of Sergio Perez) and had Russell continued on those very worn tires, he could’ve risked not finishing the race.
“[It was] not difficult,” said Wolff regarding the choice of stopping Russell twice.
“I think taking the point for the fastest lap was a little goodie, but the lap times were dropping off because we had pitted him early.
“There was the risk of losing the position a few laps later to Perez, and beating one of the Red Bulls in the circumstances was advantageous.
“The wear life of the tires said that at lap 57, the tire will be gone and that is why we made the call.”
The Mercedes team principal also said that Mercedes is seeing some progress, but other outfits are also doing better, and it’s not easy to close the gap. Despite that, he feels more confident now.
“What we are seeing now on the car are those incremental gains that we’re bringing, rather than a miracle update giving the car a better balance window,” he said.
“It is making the car have more performance, but it is a thing where you gain a tenth or a tenth-and-a-half but at the same time, the other teams are making progress.
“We are on a trajectory where we’re making the car better, and it’s like a share price going up, we’re doing it so as long as the direction is correct, I feel more confident now.”