The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix is yet another confirmation for Mercedes that the team cannot compete at the top. Lewis Hamilton had a dramatic qualifying today, and team boss Toto Wolff therefore calls the situation unacceptable.
"That's the second race of the season and another confirmation that we are not where we want to be, and need to be," Wolff said in Mercedes' official press release. After the introduction of the new regulations, the teams built a completely new car, but at Mercedes it seems that they went in the wrong direction.
Indeed, four months ago Hamilton was on pole position in Saudi Arabia, now he has to start from P16. George Russell was faster than his teammate and will start from P6 on Sunday. He even managed to reach Q3 on the medium tyre, while the rest of the grid qualified on the softest compound.
Wolff clearly dissatisfied
"For George, I think today was a good effort considering we only had one soft tyre for Q3, so a solid job from him. Nevertheless, the optimum scenario for us today was the no-man's-land between the Red Bull and Alpine, and that's certainly not acceptable," Wolff said.
Silly people said the same thing last year. After the break, Merc can on strong and won the last 4 races. Only interference from Masi denied him his 8th Championship. Max was 11 seconds behind Lewis and would NOT have won if the rules "all lapped cars pass and the safety car stays out for the lap". Those are the facts.
No wonder Lewis Hamilton won 7 championships, he had the best car with Rocket engines and the competition even though had better drivers, had bad cars
I still wonder how many of those hundreds of people at Mercedes, working passionately and relentlessly to give them the best F1 car possible, lost just a little bit of that passion last year. .. You know, when they achieved an unprecedented 8th constructor world championship together, but their leader wasn't even bothered to come and pick it up for them.
It will be sad if Lewis ends his career not having won his 8th WDC honouring his mother's maiden name.
How does one driver qualify 11 places ahead of his team mate in the same car? I recall the insult Hamilton paid Checo last season when he stated that RB must be fast if he sees Checo sitting behind him. Well Lewis, now you can see him in front of you the whole season and when he's looming up to lap you.
We have seen in previous seasons when top drivers comes up to lap their team mates during a race. Wonder when we will see Russell lap Hami boi this year?
Hamilton will look for an excuse to retire from the race before that happens. The publicity would be too much for him to cope with.
How do you explain PER qualifying 3 places ahead of VER, he never had pole position in his entire career before that? Are you saying he us a better driver than Max?
George pulls another rabbit out of the hat and all Toto can say is "good effort"? I'd say it's almost a miracle when you consider where all the other Mercedes engine cars ended up.
Yep, great effort today mate. You did a stellar job. Doff me cap to you.
Hey, thanks ibo. I just pretended I was back in the Williams, and voila! Roll on tomorrow!
Russell is used to driving slow cars for the past 3 seasons and has been able to qualify it in Q2 and Q3 consistently, giving the impression that the Williams are actually pretty good, but in reality, it was the driver getting far more out of the car than it’s actual performance. Hami on the other hand, has been used to driving very superior cars and winning races and championships giving the impression that he is a really talented driver, but it has always been the superior car that was giving the good results. This year, when the two of them are in the same car, it now becomes clear who the actually better and faster driver actually is.
Ouch! I think if I were hamilton I'd be off for a bottle of Jamison or Proper 12 pocket watch!
Only the magic green stuff would calm him down after that effort. Plant magic
Am sure you don't realise this is s dumb comment but well trolls are always like that.
Let's just ignore the Bahrain GP and the entire FP sessions and the setup changes that led to the bad results. Lol you're funny mate. By the way ,how is that Max in the fastest car on track finish P4.
Max is not in the fastest car the Ferrari are the quicker ones, Verstappen had no grip in q3 so he could not put harder
MAX gets beaten by Pérez, and Lec and Sainz *Max had no grip. Lewis knocked out of Q1,because of the wrong setup resulting in no rear grip. Russell is destroying Lewis and Lewis in finished. Lol
It's Hamiltons true color. He can't compete with others when he has the same kind of car. He needs a rocket engine or maFIA to help him
When Lewis wins - it's the CAR. When Lewis is losing, It's Lewis. We call that bias. Everything you say is irrelevant!
Bias? That's how it is He need a rocket car to be able to win, his driving is inferior and needs boosting
His driving is inferior, really? So Bottas now has superior driving to him. Please use your head a bit...though I am not too sure you have it
Ehile Max got P4 in the fastest car and Le clerc has the 2nd fastest car??????
Lewis got badly qualified by a Rookie in the 2nd race......that holds a lot of weight that he needed the fastest car to win...Bottas was never special either and was slower than Lewis......the best drivers on the grid are 1. Le clerc and Max 3. Sainz, Lando & Russell
Just what Bret said. Please use your own brain. Bottas always also got the worse car, they used him as a tester and when something was good, they swapped that part to Lewis. Just see Turkey how good he was and outperformed Lewis when he had the better parts as testing before Lewis got them.
Probably it is more a mentality problem. When HAM doesn’t have a rocket ship, he is not a fighter.
Oh sure?while he won last year in a slower car until he was robbed????
Changing engines for several times and flying with his rocketship. Did you watch slow motion?
Apparently, so does Max or you have to explain why it took 7 years for him to win the Championship. Vettel won 4 Championships in the Red Bull car. Max needs a rocket to win. It's the car & the driver. Lewis AND Max are both extremely talented drivers.
I am well educated enough to know there was a rule change in 2017 that made the cars wider, faster, and on fatter tires. Vettel lost under pressure. Hamilton was fine. Vettel even ran into Hamilton in a fit of rage. It appears You are the one with gaps in YOUR memory!
You need to educate yourself on the hybrid era in which Mercedes have had dominating cars. Vettel did not win under this era and verstappen were driving a far worse car than most teams under the dominating Mercedes hybrid era cars
Popular on GPBlog
Horner informs that Red Bull were using reserve pit crew for the Japanese Grand Prix
McLaren believe that Verstappen may struggle to keep momentum: 'It will be very difficult for him'
Kelly Piquet reacts with pride to Verstappen's first victory in 2025
