F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Hamilton letting off steam led to Austin win - Wolff

Toto Wolff believes Lewis Hamilton being able to "let off steam" resulted in his more positive outlook and performance at the United States Grand Prix.

Hamilton received plenty of attention during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend for his off-track behaviour, getting criticised for his attitude in a press conference before announcing he would not do as much media in future. The defending champion finished third at Suzuka but was back on top form in Austin, winning from pole to cut Nico Rosberg's championship lead to 26 points.

Asked why Hamilton seemed different in the US to Japan, Mercedes boss Wolff replied: "Suzuka was very different.

"We had just come out of Malaysia where he had lost the win – 25 points gone – he would have made up that gap in the championship and then it started with the press conference and it went into a spiral. He has 10 days to recover and he has come back strong. He has let off steam.

“I don’t know [why he was so confident], but Austin is a track where he has historically performed very well, and you could see that from the get go. He was extremely up for it.”

With Hamilton saying he was fearing a repeat failure throughout Sunday's race, Wolff admits the Malaysia retirement will stay in the back of many minds at Mercedes until the end of the season.

"It is never plain sailing. It was as good as it can be with the engine. I understand that Malaysia came out of nowhere and Malaysia swings with all of us. That little trauma is going to remain for a while."

2017 driver line-ups so far

Silbermann says ... Taylor should take over F1

Romain Grosjean column: 100 races, now for the wins

PREVIEW: 2016 United States Grand Prix

TECHNICAL - Turbulent Jet Ignition: In the antechamber of F1 power

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Bearman gives harsh verdict on Sao Paulo stand-in

Oliver Bearman got quite the early morning wake-up call on Friday in Sao Paulo when…

7 hours ago

Red Bull still 'looking at the facts' regarding Perez's performance

While his team mate Max Verstappen thrilled the fans with a run from 17th on…

8 hours ago

Sad Colapinto laments two crashes in one day in Sao Paulo

Williams suffered a bruising time on Sunday in Sao Paulo, with Alex Albon unable to…

10 hours ago

McLaren: No regrets over timing of Norris pit stop in Sao Paulo GP

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has insisted that the squad has no regrets about their…

11 hours ago

Williams' Boutsen hoists the mainsail in Adelaide

On this day in 1989, Williams' Thierry Boutsen secured his second F1 win when he…

13 hours ago

Horner: Max 'answered critics' with epic Sao Paulo GP drive

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen’s sensational Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory…

13 hours ago