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Team boss at Mercedes: 'Second place Hamilton better than expected'

Team boss at Mercedes: 'Second place Hamilton better than expected'

24-10-2021 22:32
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GPblog.com

Toto Wolff saw Lewis Hamilton finish second in the United States Grand Prix. The Mercedes team boss is not even that dissatisfied with the 19 points that his British driver managed to get. According to Wolff the victory of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing was deserved.

"I think it was some interesting strategy games and great racing," Wolff told Sky Sports. "We thought we had a sniff at the end. The moment you get close to a car it's hard. They went for a super aggressive first stop.. that was bold."

At Mercedes, they had not expected the Austrians to go in so quickly. Nevertheless, the RB16B was the faster car, the team boss believes."They deserve to win today," said Wolff. "The car was not quick enough on the medium. We were debating about the undercut but lap 11 or 12 was too early. We didn't think the hard would last."

Mercedes not dissatisfied

In the first free practice Mercedes seemed unapproachable, but that changed over the course of the weekend. Nevertheless, Hamilton scored a podium finish. "P2 is better than expected. It's a fine line between downforce and drag, " said the Austrian chief, who also previewed Mexico: "P2 is better than expected. It's a fine line between downforce and drag. Mexico is a track that is traditionally hard for us but this season everything can change. It's race by race."