Toto Wolff labels Mercedes’ performance in Sao Paulo GP ‘inexcusable’ and ‘horrible’

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff: “That car finished second last week and the week before, and whatever we did to it was horrible… this car doesn’t deserve a win”; Mercedes finished 62 seconds behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in Sunday’s 71-lap race at Interlagos after torrid struggle

Toto Wolff said Mercedes had delivered an “inexcusable performance” in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and that he felt sorry for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for having to drive such a “miserable thing”.

On a torrid weekend for the former champions on the circuit they claimed their last F1 win on 12 months ago, Mercedes followed up what Hamilton had already described as a “horrible” Sprint on Saturday with a race-long struggle for pace and tyre wear in Sunday’s grand prix as their wildly inconsistent 2023 car toiled around Interlagos.

Hamilton slipped from third on the grid at a post-red flag standing start restart to eighth – 62 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen in a 71-lap race – with Russell also unable to avoid falling backwards before eventually being forced to retire due to high and worsening oil temperatures on the W14.

Coming off the back of far more competitive showings in the previous two events in the USA and Mexico, Mercedes’ shock at what unfolded, and what had gone wrong, was even more pronounced and led to a plain-talking Wolff giving a damming assessment of the car’s performance in his interview with Sky Sports after the race.

“Inexcusable performance,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.

“There’s even no words for that.

“That car finished second last week and the week before, and whatever we did to it was horrible.

“Lewis survived out there, but George… I can only feel for the two driving such a miserable thing.

“It shows how difficult the car is, it’s on a knife’s edge.

“You’ve got to develop that better for next year, because it can’t be that within seven days you’re finishing on the podium, solid, with one of the two quickest cars, and then you’re nowhere and finishing eighth.”

Mercedes have been at a loss as to why the W14 lost pace so suddenly and badly.

Russell sad: “Clearly we got something wrong this weekend, still we’re not too sure what that is as yet, but the pace just hadn’t been there.”

Hamilton added: “I feel like I drove a better race today in terms of managing the tyres to the best of my ability. But the car, there’s moments it works and moments it doesn’t, and it’s so inconsistent through the lap.

“So we have to figure out what that is. Then also we are really slow on the straights and at least sliding the car through the corners.”

Wolff: ‘This car doesn’t deserve a win’ | Brundle says W14 looked like it had ‘parachute’ on

Back on the scene of their dominant win in Brazil last year, Mercedes had been hopeful of continuing the momentum they had shown in the previous two weeks as they work towards what they have admitted must be a much-improved 2024.

But was transpired at Interlagos was far below expectations.

With the team at a loss as to why the W14 performed so badly, Wolff said it “almost drove like on three wheels and not on four”.

Sky F1’s Martin Brundle, meanwhile, had said during commentary that the W14 looked “like it has a parachute” attached to it such was the ease at which rivals overtook as Hamilton and Russell started to slip backwards after promising starts.

Mercedes remain without a victory in 2023 with just two grands prix left and Wolff starkly stated: “This car doesn’t deserve a win.

“We need to push for the last two races and recover. I think that’s the most important thing. And see what we can do in Las Vegas, a totally different track, and Abu Dhabi.

“But the performance today was… I’m lacking words.”

More to follow…