Toto Wolff says Mercedes paid the price in Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix for its “subpar” communication and “catastrophic” strategy decisions.
Rain pummeled down on the field of competitors at Zandvoort shortly after the start, half-way through the opening lap.
Those who opted to immediately switch from slicks to intermediates were rewarded for their move, but on the Mercedes pitwall the consensus was that the sudden shower that had rolled in from the sea would not last.
The Brackley squad subsequently delayed the stops of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell until laps 3 and 4 respectively, a decision that would prove costly for the two drivers.
- Read also: Hamilton could have challenged Verstappen with right strategy
Hamilton dropped to last but was eventually able to battle his way back to sixth, while Russell who had qualified an impressive third saw his hopes of a podium blown into oblivion.
“I think we stayed out catastrophically too long. We got it completely wrong,” Wolff admitted to Sky Sports F1. “We will review thoroughly.
“The situation is never one person or one department. It is the communications between driver, pit wall, strategy, weather and then all of us taking decisions.
“That was absolutely subpar from all of us, and that includes me. It’s good when it hurts. When it stings, it sticks.”
After the race, Hamilton claimed that Mercedes had the pace to challenge race winner Max Verstappen at the head of the field and Wolff agreed, hence the Austrian’s frustration with his team’s poor execution.
“It’s annoying because the car had really [good] pace. And then, from there on it was just recovering as good as we could,” he continued.
“We saw at the end on the intermediates George had Max’s pace and Lewis was very strong behind Sainz. We could have been much further ahead.”
While disappointed, Wolff chose to take away from the day the improved form of Mercedes’ W14.
“I’d rather have good pace, a fast race car and a mediocre result even if it hurts,” he concluded.
“But it’s still bittersweet because the result is just really bad. It’s what could have been, but that doesn’t count in our sport.”
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