August 27, (THEWILL) – The Mercedes Formula One team was left stunned after a disastrous outing at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, which boss Toto Wolff described as their worst race yet this season.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled from the outset at Circuit Zandvoort, with a flawed tyre strategy ruining any chances of a podium finish. Russell started third but finished a lowly 17th, while Hamilton moved from 13th on the grid to 6th in the final classification. The meager eight-point haul marked Mercedes’ worst points return of the campaign so far.
In last year’s race, Russell had finished second in Zandvoort, with Hamilton fourth. “We stayed out catastrophically too long in the first stint,” a dejected Wolff admitted after the race. “We got it completely wrong. That’s annoying because the car had really good pace.”
The race was suspended after rain caused chaos on lap one. When it restarted, Mercedes’ timing on switching to intermediates was badly misjudged, leaving Russell 19th at one stage. Although the Brit battled back, a puncture ended any hopes of salvaging his race.
Despite the poor result, Wolff took some comfort from the car’s race pace, with Russell matching Max Verstappen late on. But the Mercedes chief promised a thorough investigation into exactly what went wrong. “It’s good when it hurts. When it stings, it sticks,” he declared.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
