Toto Wolff points finger at Lewis Hamilton crashed out of US Grand Prix | F1 | Sport

Toto Wolff described the crash that sent Lewis Hamilton out of the US Grand Prix on lap three as “100 per cent the car’s fault”. The legendary Briton unexpectedly took off at turn 19, following the cars in front.

Sunday marked the crescendo of a disappointing weekend for Hamilton, who missed out on pole in the sprint race before crossing the line sixth in the first race of the weekend. Later on Saturday, he retired for the first time in the first quarter in Austin due to a mistake on the last lap.

Then, having gained five positions on a huge opening lap, Hamilton made a seemingly uncharacteristic mistake by crashing out under his own power after losing the rear of his W15 on the third lap of the race.

However, according to team principal Wolf, it was not Hamilton’s fault. “(It was) 100 percent a car. I don’t think he even insisted at this stage. You saw it yesterday with George (Russell).

“It may have been too strong, but still, (it was) abrupt, losing it and putting it into the wall. And today, in this situation, the wind was blowing and there was some dirty air from… we definitely had a problem. I don’t know if it was the same yesterday (Saturday) as today (Sunday). Definitely…Lewis Hamilton won’t lose his car on the fifth lap like that.”

The relationship between his spin and Russell’s qualifying performance was also discovered by Hamilton, who came up with several theories after emerging from the cockpit. “I had the same thing in P1,” he said. “I had a spin in Turn 3, which is so rare. In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never spun into Turn 3.

“I was just saying that George apparently had the same problem yesterday, he went back to the old car and it looks good there, so maybe there’s something to the new upgrade.”

Delving deeper into the moment of the accident, Hamilton continued: “I wasn’t even pushing at that moment. I was literally just trying to get going and warm up the tires. The car started bouncing, the left front started bouncing and the rear just came to its senses. Everything was the same as George’s yesterday.

It hasn’t been an easy weekend for Mercedes, but teammate Russell has at least managed to get the team back some points. The 26-year-old driver emerged from the pit lane in sixth place on track, completing a memorable comeback at the Circuit of the Americas.