The Mercedes boss sharply criticized rival teams after the Hungarian Grand Prix, believing that some engineers complicated the battle between Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton.
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Toto Wolff did not hide his annoyance at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Mercedes director lashed out at engineers from some rival teams, whom he accused of poorly managing backmarkers in the final laps of the race.
Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton indeed lost valuable time behind several backmarkers, notably Gabriel Bortoleto’s, while they were battling for third place.
This situation also allowed Max Verstappen to maintain a safety margin in his race for second place.
A blue flag system failure
At the root of these difficulties was a failure of the light panels installed around the circuit.
Drivers no longer automatically received the light signals announcing the arrival of the leaders and had to rely solely on the blue flags waved by track marshals as well as information transmitted by their engineers.
For Wolff, some teams simply did not sufficiently warn their drivers of the approaching lead cars.
“To see backmarkers defending while Lewis and Kimi were fighting, it’s simply outrageous. Some engineers, these “Teletubbies” on the pit walls, don’t even tell their drivers what’s happening behind them.”
Anger still very present
The Mercedes boss still did not hide his irritation several minutes after the finish.
“I am really not satisfied with this whole situation.”
The expression used by Wolff refers to the famous characters from the children’s series Les Teletubbies, a jab intended to question the professionalism of some race engineers.
Mercedes keeps smiling before the break
Despite this frustration, Toto Wolff prefers to focus on the overall assessment of the first half of the season.
Thanks to Kimi Antonelli’s third place, leader of the world championship, and despite George Russell’s limited climb to seventh place after his start issue, Mercedes approaches the summer break in a very favorable position.
The German team now has 72 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, while Antonelli has 50 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.
Wolff believes this situation rewards the work done by his team.
“Once I’ve calmed down, I’ll mainly remember that we’re heading into the summer break with a solid lead in the drivers’ championship and a good margin in the constructors’. This is the result of a high-performance car and the work of an excellent team.”
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