Toto Wolff finds the large performance gap between Mercedes drivers “difficult to comprehend”.
George Russell had one of his best weekends of the year at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He qualified fourth and finished on the podium to ensure Mercedes would hold off Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.
In contrast, Lewis Hamilton endured a thoroughly miserable few days at the Yas Marina Circuit. From 11th on the grid he managed to rise only two places to ninth and never threatened to cut through the field.
Such big performance gaps have been a theme of the season. So often in 2023 Hamilton has been the one raking in the big points while Russell has struggled for consistency.
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And the same has been true for many other teams with one driver shining at a given race weekend while their team-mate has flopped. Mercedes team principal Wolff pointed out the trend as he spoke to reporters after the Abu Dhabi race.
He said: “It is just difficult to comprehend that good drivers in various teams have these oscillations in performance. You’ve seen it this weekend with [Carlos] Sainz and [Charles] Leclerc, you’ve seen it with George and Lewis and Oscar [Piastri] and Lando [Norris]. And the obvious one is [Sergio] Perez and [Max] Verstappen. Perez is not a second slower than Max, so what [is the cause?]”
The Austrian went on to share his theory of why the pattern has been more noticeable this season compared to in others years. He added: “We have seen it swinging in both directions, and fundamentally, I think all around it is the tyre grip.
