Head of Mercedes Motorsport Toto Wolff takes the exposure of his own Formula 1 car in Monaco with humor.
Lewis Hamilton’s W14 was lifted off the track by crane after an accident during free practice on Saturday – the rear tilted, the car’s nose pointed skyward, the new underbody was clearly visible and was eagerly photographed by the photographers image captured.
“Whoever drove the crane probably used to work at Cirque du Soleil,” said Wolff on Saturday evening, “I don’t understand it at all, the car was on the street, it could have been loaded onto a tow truck. Instead, Exhibiting it for the whole world was suboptimal for us to say the least.”
Before the race in Monaco (Sunday, 3 p.m. / Sky), Mercedes had given its car a general overhaul, and the aerodynamics on the underbody were also changed. The teams are always careful to keep their ideas under wraps as much as possible, which is usually no problem on the underbody – unless the car is hanging from the crane.
However, Wolff expressly did not want his comments to be understood as serious criticism of the marshals. “Everyone does their best,” said the Austrian: “I don’t want to be a team boss who shoots at the marshals who just do their job.” Basically, the marshals in Monaco are considered to be particularly capable, rescues on the narrow route usually work smoothly.