Toto Wolff stated that Mercedes’s performance, not the tyre pressures as reported by Lewis Hamilton, is the reason behind their racing results in China.

After starting the race from 18th on the grid, seven-time F1 World Champion Hamilton finished in ninth place in Shanghai. Hamilton took the risk of starting the first lap on soft tires.

Lewis Hamilton proposes a contributing factor to excessive tire pressures.

After crossing the finish line in ninth place, Hamilton spoke with the media and stated that high tire pressures may be the cause of some of the strange behavior of the car. Pirelli has recommended a minimum starting pressure of 26 psi for the front tires and 22 psi for the rear tires.

The front tire pressures in Bahrain’s race are the highest of the season thus far; they have been gradually increasing over the first five races of the year, with a prescription of 22 psi.

Hamilton stated, “I mean, I think one of the reasons is that the tyre pressures are so high,” when asked his opinion about the handling of the vehicle. I believe these to be the worst we’ve had.

Hamilton gave an explanation of his thoughts on the soft tire stint, which he changed during a stop on Lap 9. He added that because of the extreme understeer he was experiencing, he had assumed his vehicle was damaged.

“I was the only one, I think, on the soft and it fell apart after Lap 1. It was very difficult,” he said.

“I thought maybe, at the beginning, I tapped someone because I’ve never had so much understeer in my life.

“I was turning in at low speed and just waiting, waiting, waiting and so I thought maybe I had damaged something. There was debris blowing everywhere at one point, but it was just the setup I chose.”

Toto Wolff: Our performance is what matters most.

Speaking with the media following the race in Shanghai, Wolff rejected the notion that compounds or pressures in the tires were the cause of Hamilton’s challenging race on Sunday in Shanghai.

Not at all. On paper, I believe that beginning with the gentle offered him He stated, “The grip just wasn’t there on the soft, and the theory said he should have had a strong start with softer rubber.”

“I would attribute the difficulty to our own performance, as we were unable to achieve the desired results, which naturally led to more challenges.”

The Austrian continued by explaining why he anticipates such dramatic swings in performance, pointing out that Hamilton finished second in the Sprint race and maintained that position at the finish, only to qualify just eighteenth for the Grand Prix a few hours later due to a change in setup strategy.

“I think the car is difficult, a difficult car to set up and a difficult car to drive,” he said.

“That’s why you have these oscillations in performances, in my opinion.

“I think where Lewis’ car [was] today was certainly far, far away from the optimum and then it’s just driving on the knife’s edge. So what is it?

“This is where we are. Let’s see for Miami, we were bringing some new bits, which are interesting to see how they’re going to perform on the car.