Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has described as “Cirque du Soleil” the removal of Lewis Hamilton’s car at the end of final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.
With a few minutes remaining in the hour-long session, Hamilton made a rare error that resulted in him locking up and careering into a barrier at Mirabeau, damaging the front-left corner of the car.
Remarkably, when the stricken W14 was lifted off the circuit, it was craned high into the air, allowing photographers to capture images of its floor, a crucial area rarely seen.
On this occasion, it has allowed rival aerodynamicists up and down the paddock to study and understand a section of the car that has been upgraded for this weekend’s race.
Asked by Speedcafe how he felt about what he witnessed, Wolff replied: “Well, whoever performed the crane has probably worked for Cirque du Soleil before.
“I mean, honestly, I don’t even comprehend. The car was on the road, you could have put it on a truck, rather than showcasing a car to everyone in the world. That was sub-optimum for us, to say the least.”
As if to even up the score, when Sergio Perez crashed out of the first section of qualifying at Ste Devote, wrecking the rear-left of his Red Bull after losing control and slamming it into a barrier, the car was again lifted relatively high, with the floor visible.
“Checo’s car was the same?” questioned Wolff, with a smile. “I didn’t see that. So they (the crane operators) are all from Cirque du Soleil.”
Wolff made clear he was not criticising the FIA stewards for the actions of the Monaco marshals.
“By the way, don’t thrash the stewards, okay?” said Wolff.
“The Cirque du Soleil is okay but everybody’s doing their best and I don’t want to be a team principal that lashes out at stewards that are doing their job.”
Hamilton leaves it late – twice
Following repairs to Hamilton’s car during practice and qualifying, the seven-time F1 champion was able to salvage a respectable sixth position, although he had to rely on late laps in both Q1 and Q2 to squeeze through into the next session.
“That’s just how it turned out,” remarked Hamilton, who has conceded to heading in a different set-up direction compared to team-mate George Russell, who finished two places adrift.
“I struggled to get temperature into the tyres so it was always that last lap that I managed to just pull something out.
“My heart was in my mouth because there could have been a yellow flag or a red flag, who knows. But we made it through and I’m grateful for the lap I got.”
Strangely, the sixth and eighth positions for Hamilton and Russell match their performance from last year, albeit the younger Briton was ahead on the grid 12 months ago.
Perhaps a measure of the small step taken by Mercedes with its upgrade package for this weekend is that a year ago Russell was 0.446s behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had to settle for fourth.
With Verstappen taking a thrilling pole position on this occasion, his first at Monaco, the gap between the Dutch driver and the lead Mercedes in Hamilton has closed to 0.360s.
“The team did a really great job in bringing these upgrades,” said Hamilton. “You could feel it straight away, particularly at the front of the car.
“We have been trying something through the weekend. There was some uncertainty. We went halfway on the other car but I went the full way on mine. I said I was certain of it and that I would put my hand up if I was wrong. In the end, I think it was okay.”
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