沃尔夫为拉塞尔美国大奖赛低迷揽责
美国大奖赛后，梅赛德斯领队托托·沃尔夫主动为乔治·拉塞尔一侧车库的巨大速度差距承担责任，而不是把责任推给车手。拉塞尔经历了一个糟糕的下午，首圈一次离奇的时间处罚和完全缺乏抓地力严重拖累了他的表现。
托托·沃尔夫为乔治·拉塞尔在美国大奖赛的低迷揽责
梅赛德斯领队没有把责任推给车手，而是为拉塞尔一侧车库的巨大速度差距承担全部责任
致梅赛德斯车迷。来自银箭车队的最新消息，包括F1新闻、车手动态、赛车研发以及来自布拉克利和布里克斯沃思的比赛分析。
如果你在美国大奖赛周日赛后看向梅赛德斯车库的两侧，你会以为他们使用的是完全不同的赛车。一侧，新星安德烈亚·基米·安东内利正在庆祝一场奇迹般、占据统治地位的胜利。另一侧，乔治·拉塞尔在一个糟糕的下午后抓狂不已，他的表现因首圈一次离奇的时间处罚和完全缺乏抓地力而严重受损。
当梅赛德斯车队老板托托·沃尔夫走到麦克风前履行赛后媒体职责时，他毫不掩饰。他立即为自己的老将车手挺身而出，在就车队的工程失误狠狠自责之前，先对国际汽联（FIA）的赛事干事开了一炮。
在赛后与大卫·库特哈德的交谈中，话题立刻转向了拉塞尔在混乱的首圈冲出赛道后收到的那个令人费解的5秒罚时。
“在维修区里是一种反应，在领奖台上是庆祝，回到维修区又是沮丧，”库特哈德描述着当时的场景说道。“我觉得那个5秒罚时，我不知道他们当时在想什么。那是第一圈的比赛。所以希望这件事能向赛事干事反映一下。”
沃尔夫毫不迟疑，立刻顺着库特哈德关于得克萨斯州奥斯汀环境的玩笑接了下去。
“这里吸烟是合法的，你知道吧，”沃尔夫面无表情地回击道。
“是啊，他们可能一直在干的就是这个，”库特哈德笑着回应，随后转向了更严肃的问题——拉塞尔相比他的新秀队友那令人费解的缺乏速度。
虽然五秒罚时确实对拉塞尔的下午没有帮助，但车手和车队都公开承认，赛车的基础速度简直糟糕透顶。库特哈德追问沃尔夫，他打算如何管理这位“优质资产”——此人目前正被姊妹车里的那个小子彻底碾压。
梅赛德斯老板没有把压力放在拉塞尔肩上，而是明确表示，工程部门辜负了一位具备冠军水准的车手。
“我的意思是，在另一边，乔治是一位冠军。我们有一个拥有一切的人，但他与赛车不合拍，”沃尔夫解释道。“我们需要找出原因，因为看到维修区另一边一个在水上行走的人，以及一个拥有全部能力却无法从赛车中提取性能的人，对我们来说并不令人满意。”
赛道工程总监安德鲁·肖夫林已经确认，车队最新的空气动力学升级使调校窗口变得极其狭窄，沃尔夫知道修复这一混乱局面的重担完全落在指挥台和回到布拉克利的工厂身上。
“这是我们的责任，我们只是团结在一起，”沃尔夫总结道，坚定地为拉塞尔在德克萨斯的噩梦承担责任。
英文原文
Toto Wolff takes blame for George Russell's US GP struggles
Instead of throwing his driver under the bus, the Mercedes boss takes full responsibility for the massive pace deficit on Russell's side of the garage
For Mercedes fans. All the latest from the Silver Arrows, with F1 news, driver updates, car development and race analysis from Brackley and Brixworth.
If you looked at the two sides of the Mercedes garage after Sunday's United States Grand Prix, you would assume they were running completely different machinery. On one side, sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli was celebrating a miraculous, dominant race victory. On the other, George Russell was pulling his hair out after a miserable afternoon severely compromised by a bizarre first-lap time penalty and a complete lack of grip.
When Mercedes boss Toto Wolff stepped in front of the microphones for his post-race media duties, he didn't hold back. He immediately went to bat for his veteran driver, taking a shot at the FIA stewards before brutally falling on his own sword regarding the team's engineering failures.
During a post-race chat with David Coulthard, the conversation immediately shifted to the baffling five-second time penalty Russell received for going off track during the chaotic opening lap.
"One at the garage, celebration on the stage, on the garage, frustration," Coulthard noted, setting the scene. "I think the five-second penalty was, I'm not sure what they were smoking. This was racing on the first lap. So hopefully that gets spoken to the stewards about."
Without missing a beat, Wolff immediately leaned into Coulthard's joke about the Austin, Texas environment.
"It's legal here to smoke, you know," Wolff fired back with a deadpan delivery.
"Yeah, that's maybe what they've been doing," Coulthard laughed before pivoting to the much more serious issue of Russell's baffling lack of pace compared to his rookie team-mate.
While a five-second penalty certainly didn't help Russell's afternoon, both the driver and the team have openly admitted the car's underlying pace was simply rubbish. Coulthard pressed Wolff on how he plans to manage a "quality asset" who is currently getting absolutely blown out of the water by the kid in the sister car.
Instead of putting the pressure on Russell's shoulders, the Mercedes boss made it abundantly clear that the engineering department is failing a championship-calibre driver.
"I mean, on the other side with George, we have a champion. We have someone that has it all, but he's not clicking with the car," Wolff explained. "And we need to find out why that is, because it's not for us satisfying to see someone that walks on water on the other side of the garage, and a guy who, with all his ability, not being able to extract the performance out of the car."
With trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin already confirming that the team's latest aerodynamic upgrades have made the set-up window insanely narrow, Wolff knows the burden of fixing this mess rests entirely on the pitwall and the factory back in Brackley.
"And this is on us, and we're just together," Wolff concluded, firmly taking the blame for Russell's Texas nightmare.
Motorsport.com ·
内容来自公开信源，聚合内容版权归原作者与来源所有。