Wolff apologises to Hamilton

TOTO WOLFF has apologised to Lewis Hamilton for what the Mercedes team principal described as an “undrivable” car during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Hamilton was again left frustrated by the performance of his vehicle, struggling to fight his way up through the field and unable to get by Pierre Gasly, who held the seven-time world champion at bay for much of the race at Imola.

George Russell was able to overcome Mercedes’ ongoing problems and continue his run of top-five finishes, holding off Valtteri Bottas, the man he replaced at the team, to secure fourth.

For Hamilton, though, a finish outside of the points in 13th capped a weekend of poor showings in qualifying, Saturday’s sprint race and finally on feature race day in northern Italy.

In the immediate aftermath of the result, Wolff said the car must be blamed for the performance.

“Sorry for what you had to drive today,” the Mercedes team principal said to Hamilton over the radio. “I know this is undrivable. This was a terrible race.”

Hamilton replied: “No worries, Toto. Let’s keep working hard.”

The Briton is now already 58 points off the pace with his hopes of a record eighth world championship over for this year, and possibly beyond.

“It’s been difficult, but I don’t really know what to say,” said the deflated 37-year-old. “It’s definitely not easy.

“At least George got some points today so my apologies to everyone that I wasn’t able to do the same.

“I am out of the championship, and there’s no question about that. It has been a weekend to forget.”