Mercedes boss Toto Wolff explains how a three degree temperature change impacted Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's race in Japan

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff recently touched on the change in track temperature affecting Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's races at the 2024 F1 Japanese GP.

Both Mercedes drivers had a mediocre weekend at Suzuka, where Hamilton and Russell qualified P7 and P9 respectively, and finished the race in opposite positions. Even though Hamilton was generally happy with how the W15 felt, the result was not something the eight-time world champions were completely satisfied with.

Speaking to the media, Toto Wolff explained that both drivers had much better second and third stints in the race because of the track temperature drop. He stated that the cloud cover lowered the temperature by three degrees, which helped Lewis Hamilton and George Russell extract more performance out of the W15.

On the other hand, he pointed out that the higher track temperature in the first race stint was not necessarily the reason for their poor performance.

“There were three degrees of difference in track temperature between stint one and stint two and, as far as I know, there is a relationship between our performance and track temperature. I don't think this was the reason for our negative performance in the first stint but we were simply trying to stretch it to make one stop,” Wolff said.

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Lewis Hamilton delighted with Mercedes W15 pace despite mediocre qualifying session in Japan

Despite qualifying P7 for the 2024 F1 Japanese GP, Lewis Hamilton was happy with how the Mercedes W15 felt around Suzuka.

Speaking to on-site media, he explained that he did not feel the need to try random tactics to squeeze out performance. He said that he was much more streamlined and sensible in his approach.

“This is the nicest it's felt over the last three years. I think last year, we were over a second off, we're doing over seven-tenths today. Also this weekend I'm not like trying all these different random things. So I've been just much more focused on making sensible changes sensible changes. I think it's worked. I was hoping it would be further ahead,” Hamilton said (via Sportskeeda).

The race in Japan was not kind to Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion struggled with tire temperature and even had to switch places with his teammate George Russell at one point. He eventually lost a couple of places and ended in P9, scoring only two points.

Lewis Hamilton is currently ninth in the drivers' championship with only 10 points, while his teammate, George Russell, is in seventh with 24 points.