Lewis Hamilton’s accident, George Russell’s accident, team boss Toto Wolff mightn’t believe his eyes in Austria’s qualification. But the Viennese says: “I can’t blame my pilots for anything.”
The Mercedes W13 Silver Arrow would have been sharp enough to advance to the second row of the grid. Formula 1 superstar Lewis Hamilton is convinced of this. Instead, at the Red Bull Ring – Lewis Hamilton slipped up, only 10th place on the sprint, George Russell slipped up, 5th place on the grid, but there was still a trip to the race stewards because Russell crossed the track without permission.
Team boss Toto Wolff always seems so calm. The Viennese grimaces: “Believe me, I’m cooking on the inside. But we only do Formula 1 here.”
“I can’t fault my drivers because in the first ten races we usually gave them a car that wasn’t competitive. Now they finally have a fast car, so slipping can happen quickly.”
“I’d rather we have a car that’s fast, but maybe our drivers are over the limit, than a car that’s not fast enough and we get a mediocre place.”
“I don’t know what happened there, maybe our boys got caught by the wind, maybe they just wanted too much. Spielberg has always been difficult terrain for us, even in the years when we dominated.”
Some fans hooted and cheered following Hamilton’s crash. That was just as unsportsmanlike as those Formula 1 visitors who whistled in England when Max Verstappen was interviewed.
Toto Wolff says: “I didn’t notice anything regarding it. But if that was the case, then as a sport we have to do more. It can’t be that someone cheers when a car is in the wall or when a pilot is booed. We show Formula 1 sport together here.”
Qualification, Red Bull Ring
01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:04,984 min
02. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, 1:05,013
03. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, 1:05.066
04. Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, 1:05.404
05. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, 1:05,431
06. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, 1:05,726
07. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, 1: 05,879
08. Mick Schumacher (D), Haas, 1:06,011
09. Fernando Alonso (L), Alpine, 1:06,103
10. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, 1:13,151
11. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, 1: 06,160
12. Alexander Albon (T), Williams, 1:06,230
13. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, 1:06,319
14. Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, 1: 06,851
15. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, 1:25.847
16. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren, 1:06.613
17. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, 1:06,847
18. Guanyu Zhou (RC), Alfa Romeo, 1:06,901
19. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, 1:07,003
20. Sebastian Vettel (D), Aston Martin, 1:07,083
