Toto Wolff has given his take on Lewis Hamilton's early-race radio message during the Spanish Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver made contact with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap of the event, causing both to suffer a puncture and subsequently have to take a pit-stop. This put Hamilton to the back of the field, and the seven-time World Champion sounded dejected over the team radio, having shared a message in which he seemed to suggest that the team should retire the car. "I would save this engine guys if I was you. I'm sorry," Hamilton was heard to say. In response, race engineer Pete Bonnington encouraged Hamilton that a better result was possible, and this turned out to be the case, with the Briton eventually recovering to P5 by the end of the afternoon.
Wolff reflects on Hamilton's message
After the race, Wolff was asked whether he was surprised by Hamilton's message, and if he had furthermore seen a different version of the driver during the Silver Arrows' recent struggles. "On the contrary, I think that was just a sentence of, 'I can't believe that,'" Wolff told media, including RacingNews365.com . "It was not what he meant." Wolff has no concerns about Hamilton's mindset after the driver climbed his way back through the field following his earlier incident. "You're not describing exactly a driver that comes back [from] 38 seconds behind the last guy, storms to the front, posting the fastest consecutive lap times throughout the race, and ends up in P5," the team boss added. "That shows his quality mindset and determination."
Hamilton's drive motivated Mercedes team
Wolff feels that Hamilton's recovery drive provided a good boost, not only to the driver himself but also to the whole team. "That dynamic between the driver and team is something that is so important, and it's clear," he explained. "You're having an accident at the early stage of the race, and you're saying to yourself, 'Not again', and you're not featuring, because I think he was 38 seconds or so behind the last cars after his stop. That's basically game over. "But then, him going and then showing this very good pace was important, not only for his morale, but also our morale."
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