Hamilton dissatisfied in Baku: Wolff would still opt for engine penalty
F1 News
Lewis Hamilton had a difficult race in Azerbaijan. The British driver had to start from the pit lane because Mercedes decided to change his engine, and he was not on course to finish in the points until a series of events happened during the final laps. Hamilton voiced his issues with the balance of his car, and was not also happy with changing the engine. Team principal Toto Wolff reacted to the British driver's dissatisfaction to GPblog and others.
Hamilton was running in P12 entering the final laps of the race, but thanks to a crash between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, and then a puncture to Nico Hulkenberg, the seven-time world champion eventually finished ninth in the capital of Azerbaijan.
"We decided to do the engine change here. We knew that it's going to be a race of misery because it's so difficult to overtake in Baku. And that's what it was," Wolff began in the Baku paddock about their decision.
"The moment you come closer, you overheat the tyres and then you go backwards and I think this is what happened to him. But lots to learn."
'Engine penalty better now'
According to the Austrian, it is better to swallow the bitter pill here with Hamilton in Baku. "There's two different philosophies, and we discussed it at length. One, you just swallow the pill here, because starting from P7, we don't know where that would have gone, and then doing it in Austin. But we feel that Austin is an opportunity, and so that was the decision. Right or wrong? I don't know, it was a close call," Wolff added.
On the other hand, starting from P5, George Russell could finish on the podium in P3 after Perez and Sainz did not finish the race.
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