“It’s no excuse”: Toto Wolff makes sense of underwhelming Miami Sprint result for Lewis Hamilton & George Russell

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff talked about the disappointing performance that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell faced during the 2024 F1 Miami GP Sprint earlier.

The Sprint race ended with Max Verstappen taking the victory and a fair closure within the top five drivers, however, both Mercedes drivers remained out of this action. Lewis Hamilton was stuck behind the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for most of the time and even though he managed to pass him and finished P8, a post-race penalty dropped him down to P16. He was penalized for exceeding the pitlane speed limit.

Reviewing the session, team principal Wolff revealed that the team had to work on the setup for the remaining sessions on the track because there was "no performance" on the medium tire compound. Speaking to Sky Sports, Wolff said:

"Setup wise, clearly we need to change direction for qualy".

"We weren’t working the mediums at all (in Sprint Qualifying). Literally zero grip, and then you get all the snaps and you have no performance anymore. It’s no excuse. We’ve seen it with other teams, McLaren in Q3 on the softs and suddenly going backwards. They remain a little bit of a trick, but it’s the same for everyone."

At the end of the Sprint, Hamilton dropped down to P16, as mentioned, while his teammate George Russell finished P12. The session ended without any points for the Brackley team.

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Lewis Hamilton reveals he's on a "knife's edge" with the Mercedes W15

The main qualifying session did not bring the seven-time world champion the performance that he requires for battling with the current top running teams. He was able to place his W15 at P8 with his teammate a place above him.

Talking about the car's performance, Hamilton revealed that the margin of error is minimal on the car, and their cars in the last two seasons have been rather unpredictable. Speaking to media members after the qualifying session, Hamilton said:

"All my career I don’t know if I’ve ever had such a small window. I mean, our car has been unpredictable for the last two years, so it’s trying to find that balance. You’re on a knife’s edge for performance."

The 2024 F1 season has been Mercedes worst start to a season since 2013. It has been analyzed as one of the reasons why Hamilton decided to end his contract early and move to Ferrari in the 2025 season. The Italian team looks strong for this season with one victory in their bag. Meanwhile, Mercedes sits fourth in the championship.