Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton and George Russell “do what they believe is right” amid Mercedes F1 set-up debate
Debate has been sparked about the intra-team dynamic at Mercedes after Hamilton claimed teammate Russell’s superior performance in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago was down to a “50-50” set-up call.
Russell, who comfortably out-qualified and out-raced Hamilton in Jeddah, countered the seven-time world champion’s comments in the build up to this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, stressing there was no “luck” involved.
After Russell once again 🧜headed Hamilton in Friday’s rain-affected second practice in Melbourne, team boss Wolff confirmed t🐭he pair had opted for alternative set-ups.
“We tried two different things on both cars,” Wolff told Sky. “It worked on one car, not on the other. So it’s a good direction that we’ve 🌠got.”
Asked about the set-up directions picked by his two drivers last time out𒁃 in Jeddah, Wolff said: “I think the dri🦩vers got to do what they believe is right for their car.
“Everyone is pursuing the set-up directions and that changes between Friday and Satu🦂rday very often. Then you realise that one set-up is maybe be💙tter than the other one.
“But ⛦it’s not that we are coming up with♓ set-ups that they have to run.”
Russell finished four🐷th-fastest and 🦹was pleased with the progress he made from FP1.
"FP2 was a little bit frustratꦰing with the weather coming in but it was a reasonable session for us,” he 🤪explained.
“We definitely made a step from FP1, which is a good thing. FP1 I wasn't very hap𒐪py with the car. FP2 I was pretty happy.
"We know we are not whe🅰re we need to be as a team. We know we have more to come in a couple of races time.
"We just need to maximise our chances and try to🎃 have a similar weekenꦡd to Jeddah when we exceeded the potential of the car.”
Hamilton, who was second-fastestཧ in FP1, could only manage a time good enough for 13th after seeing h﷽is dry-weather running curtailed by a decision to pit for set-up changes.
"This morning was good, this afternoon wasn't so good,” he said. “The car is similar [to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia]. It♏ felt a bit better this morning.
"We made some chan✅ges, didn't work, so we wi💮ll revise them tonight. Then it rained so it wasn't the greatest of sessions.
"We won't be competing with the Reꦡd Bulls. I think we have the pace to be around fifth, same as the last race."
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