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Lewis Hamilton\u2019s fifth place and George Russell\u2019s disappointing seventh place<\/strong> Lewis Hamilton\u2019s fifth place and George Russell\u2019s disappointing seventh place certainly betrayed the expectations for the Italian weekend, where Mercedes hoped for a significant improvement after the Dutch Grand Prix; however, Russell\u2019s race was compromised by a poor start (with damage to the front wing), while Hamilton was unable to catch Sainz\u2019s Ferrari for fourth place. <\/strong>This is another worrying step backward, following the struggles at Zandvoort, where the Brackley-based team also suffered in the race despite an above-expectations qualifying session. <\/p>\n\n The unpredictability of the W15, capable of winning three GPs but also missing the podium in two consecutive races, is fully reflected in the words of the drivers and team principal Toto Wolff.<\/strong> Since the summer break, even though Mercedes remains in the mix (and at Monza, they battled with the two Red Bulls), there is a sense of discontent in the garage and a step backward in the fight against McLaren and Ferrari for the top spots. After the Monza race, Toto Wolff had this to say about the W15 and its Sunday performance: \u201cFirst of all, congratulations to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc for the well-deserved win.<\/strong> It\u2019s always a special moment when Ferrari wins here at Monza.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n So, what is the real problem with Mercedes? Toto Wolff points to graining <\/strong>as the main culprit: \u201cOur race was better than Zandvoort, but not good. <\/strong> We opted for a two-stop strategy because we suffered from graining on the front left tire, making a one-stop strategy difficult. It was a tough situation to manage<\/strong>, and it was challenging to decide whether to risk a one-stop or push harder with two stops. Our pace today made it difficult to score more points than we did, and we didn\u2019t perform at the level we had before the summer break. When you lack pace, strategic decisions become difficult, as we\u2019ve<\/strong><\/em>seen”<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n Lewis Hamilton<\/strong> also expressed disappointment and concern, stating:\u201cToday, we didn\u2019t have the pace to fight for more, and McLaren and Ferrari, in particular, were stronger. <\/strong>I was able to keep up with Sainz, but I couldn\u2019t do the longer stint and single stop that he managed. In the end, though, we needed better balance with the car to achieve much more. It\u2019s a shame to leave a weekend where we looked so strong without more to show for it, where we seemed in good shape during practice and qualifying but couldn\u2019t deliver the same in the race.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n George Russell<\/strong>, who started third but finished only seventh, added: \u201cIt was a frustrating day<\/strong>, and in the end, we didn\u2019t have the pace to fight for the podium. My race went up in smoke at the first corner.<\/strong> I got a good start but got caught in the dirty air behind Piastri, locked up to avoid him, and damaged the front wing a bit. This compromised my initial stint, and we lost time in the pit stop having to change the wing.<\/strong><\/em>Our pace wasn\u2019t as strong as before the summer break, neither here nor at Zandvoort, while other teams seem to have taken a step forward,<\/strong> so we\u2019ll need to work diligently to get back on par with them”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n Photo: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Toto Wolff\u2019s team had a disappointing weekend, failing to reach the podium just as they did in the Netherlands. The alarm bells are ringing for the drivers after Mercedes\u2019 flop at Monza. The Monza weekend delivered many interesting verdicts for both the drivers\u2019 and constructors\u2019 championships. Unfortunately, among the negative notes, Mercedes had to be … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[389],"tags":[2273,2272,2274],"piloti":[2005,1987],"class_list":["post-31520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1-en","tag-italiangp-en","tag-mercedes-en","tag-mercedes-amg-petronas-f1-en","piloti-george-russell-en","piloti-lewis-hamilton-en"],"acf":{"live":false},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/mercedes-a-monza.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31520"},{"taxonomy":"piloti","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpkingdom.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/piloti?post=31520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Is Mercedes in trouble after Monza? The words of Wolff and the drivers.<\/h2>\n\n
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