Toto Wolff, director of the Mercedes F1 team, was hot for a few hours yesterday after the arrival of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
His pilot, George Russell, who arrived at a very good 2nd place, was under investigation from the FIA for having activated his DRS in an unauthorized manner.
Finally after analysis of telemetry and taking into account problems “external” In Mercedes F1, the Briton was bleached and has retained his place on the podium.
“It was George who saved the result of this race,” explains Wolff.
“Electronic braking (BBW) was disregarded and it began to manage the situation without wasting time, which is incredible, almost indescribable. If you have never driven a racing car equipped with a BBW or conventional braking system, it is like a power steering and imagine that it should be adapted between a turn with and another without. from one turn to another. “
“With these concerns, there were others on the steering wheel. The DRS has opened and closed. There has been no benefit. The system has dropped and we do not yet know why. We do not yet know the cause. Perhaps a wiring problem in the car, or perhaps a breakdown of the FIA counting loop system which caused a breakdown of our system.”
“We feared losing the whole dashboard, which would mean the absence of pimples, knobs to adjust the settings, speed change lights, and we thought it would prevent him from concentrating.”
“George managed this, he maintained his tender tires well, he was fast in the important moments and defended his position as it should be. Hat in George.”
The results were much more contrasting on the side of Kimi Antonelli, a finished race out of the points because of a bad choice of tires: tender to finish the race mounted even before the arrival of the safety car.
“For Kimi, the race was a period of learning. We have chosen to take a strategic risk, but with hindsight, we may have done better to put it in hard tires. He also lost positions during his first two relays, which pushed him to solicit the tires more than he would have liked.”
“This is part of the normal learning process and it will rebound next week in Saudi Arabia.”
“So we leave Bahrain with a mixed feeling, with his abrasive asphalt and his tight turns. Given the track temperatures, we did not have many hopes before the weekend. Taking a podium is therefore encouraging. However there is still work to be done to be in the race for victory with each race and we will continue to attack.”
