Wolff makes Hamilton spin stance clear as 'fundamental' problem rejected

Toto Wolff has rejected the idea that Mercedes has a "fundamental" problem with its United States F1 upgrade, as he defended Lewis Hamilton. 

Hamilton endured a dreadful weekend in Austin, which culminated in a spin on Lap 2 after a strong start from 17th, to run 12th as the field rounded Turn 19. 

In his first in-race spin since the 2019 German Grand Prix, he beached the W15 in the gravel, 24 hours after team-mate George Russell crashed at the same corner, which condemned him to a pit-lane start as Mercedes did not have a full set of the same specification of fresh upgrades to fit for Russell. 

Explaining Hamilton's uncharacteristic spin-out, his first DNF as the result of self-induced spin since the 2009 Italian GP, Wolff defended the seven-time world champion.

"In the sprint race, we have a broken suspension, that is one explanation, we fixed that and that incident in that corner came out of nowhere," he told media including RacingNews365.

"He was not pushing at all, so where I sit at the moment, it is 100% not Lewis's fault. That is not to say I am protecting him, but it is clear.

"It was gusty, there was a slipstream so how does all of that interact?

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Wolff on Mercedes upgrade

Mercedes brought a big upgrade package to Austin, but as the weekend developed and track temperatures increased, the car fell out of its prime operating window, with Hamilton being 19th fastest and Russell only sixth before his pit-lane start. 

It meant that the younger Briton was forced to use a floor from July's upgrade, which he used to rally back to sixth place, beating the Red Bull of Sergio Perez in the process.

Reflecting on the upgrade, Wolff insisted that there was not a major problem with it, but that the team needed to unlock the potential better.

"I don't think we have a fundamental issue on the upgrade, it is more the interaction on the aero and mechanical side," Wolff explained.

"We are going to continue with the upgrade, it makes no sense not to because there will be a lot of lap time we would leave on the table.

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

"Having said that, missing a few tenths in qualifying makes a big difference because it is just not as good as it should be. 

"So it is more of getting on top of: 'Why do we have a car on Friday that was by far the quickest before the [Franco] Colapinto [yellow flag in sprint qualifying to one] on Saturday that is transformed?'"