AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda caused a safety car deployment twice at the Dutch GP shocking Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
AlphaTauri driver YukiTsunoda faced trouble with his car and had to stop on the track before being called to the box. This happened twice during the Dutch GP and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was left speechless with what had happened.
At first, it was reported that Tsunoda had some problems with his tires but his team was seen fixing his seat belt instead. The Japanese driver was sent back out on the track before retiring mid-way and causing yet another safety car incident.
Even more confusion surrounding Yuki Tsunoda
He comes in for a pitstop after claiming he had a loose wheel, but the mechanics appear to be tightening his seatbelt
He leaves the pits, pulls over to the side of the track and is now out of the race pic.twitter.com/wDmRJbRhyH
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 4, 2022
However, Wolff said that he has no issue with how the safety car rules were implemented during the Dutch GP.
He believes that sometimes those rules work, and sometimes it doesn’t. “As long as we adhere to the rules, this is motor racing.”
“I think the decisions from the race control were absolutely spot on, it was just a car caused by the safety car that shouldn’t have been there anymore,” he further added.
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Toto Wolff apologises to Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton was almost at the edge of winning his first race in the 2022 season but Mercedes decided to pit the Briton for medium tires during the safety car.
After his teammate, George Russell overtook the 7-time world champion on soft tires following the restart, Hamilton was heard fuming over the team radio over the messed-up strategy.
Hamilton said, “That was the biggest f*** up.” The Briton was then seen struggling to keep up against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on soft tires for P3 and eventually missed out on the podium. Meanwhile, Russell went on to take a P2 finish.
After the race, Wolff was heard apologizing to his 37-year-old champion saying, “Sorry it didn’t work out.”
“We did what we discussed in the morning. We took the risk, it didn’t work out, but let’s discuss it between us in the office.”
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