For Toto Wolff, it’s okay that Lando Norris’ deleted pole time counts again: Without track limits, the McLaren would potentially have been even faster
For a brief moment, Lewis Hamilton thought he was on pole position for the sprint race in China. Although Lando Norris was a whopping 1.261 seconds faster than the seven-time world champion on his fastest lap, race control deleted the McLaren driver’s time due to track limits
Hamilton was not able to enjoy his first pole since Budapest 2023 for long, however, as Norris’ time was surprisingly recognized again, meaning he will be on pole on Saturday morning after all.
Although Norris had driven out with four wheels over the track barrier in the last corner of the previous lap, he was not only disqualified from that lap, but also from the following one.
It is nothing new that a track limit offense in the last corner can also have an impact on the following lap. However, there is no record of this in China, so Norris was allowed to keep his time after all.
Although this is annoying for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, Head of Motorsport Toto Wolff can live with this decision: “I saw that he was off the track with four wheels, but to be honest, it was even slower,” he told Sky. Because there is now a gravel bed on the outside of the corner, so leaving the track is no longer an advantage.
“So he would probably have driven even faster, so that’s okay for me,” says Wolff.
Difficulties until the last second
Until Hamilton’s timed lap, however, the Brit seemed to have had major problems. “It was quite difficult conditions, there wasn’t much grip,” he says. “But when I saw that the rain was coming, I was happy because we weren’t fast enough in the dry. But then everything fell into place.”
The fact that Hamilton got into SQ3 at all was pretty close. Like teammate George Russell, Hamilton struggled with cold tires in SQ2 after queuing at the lights at the pit exit. But while Russell failed to finish eleventh, Hamilton narrowly made it into SQ3.
P✌️ on the Sprint grid pic.twitter.com/p2LrdhBbCu
– Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 19, 2024
“I’m annoyed that we got it so wrong with both cars in SQ2,” says Wolff. But Mercedes learned from this and only sent Hamilton out of the garage in the final section when everyone else had already left the pits
Hamilton gets new tires
However, Hamilton returned to the pits after the outlap to get different intermediates. “That was intentional,” reveals Wolff. “We changed the specification of the tires a little, let’s put it that way.” He does not reveal what exactly was done, but it was probably an adjustment to the tire pressure.
But it seemed to help, because two seconds before the time ran out, Hamilton suddenly set a new absolute best time, nine tenths of a second off Fernando Alonso’s previous best.
“I think it shows that everything depends on the preparation of the tire,” says Wolff. “We did the right thing. The tires were in the sweet spot and that, together with a great performance, brought the time. “
If it hadn’t been for Lando Norris
Can Red Bull hold on in the sprint?
Nevertheless, second place is a good starting position for the sprint on Saturday (5:00 CEST) from Mercedes’ point of view. What is possible then? “I don’t know, it’s a grab bag,” says Wolff.
“I don’t think we have enough pace against the Red Bulls,” says the Austrian. They will start the sprint from positions four and six, but have a good chance of moving up due to the long straight. However, Norris and McLaren could be beatable, he believes.
“But we don’t know. We have no data from the first practice session. It could also be that they are significantly faster – or vice versa. “
Hamilton himself wants to wait and see what the conditions are like: “If it’s like today, then we have a chance of keeping up, but if it’s dry, then the Ferraris and Red Bulls will overtake us. But maybe we can keep some others behind us.”