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Russell doesn't escape Wolff's brutal view of Mercedes' qualifying result
Toto Wolff is disappointed with Mercedes' qualifying result, which saw Lewis Hamilton fail to reach Q2. But despite a second-row start for George Russell, the younger Brit at Mercedes didn't escape Wolff's brutal view either, as he believes the German team should've achieved more in Zandvoort.
Lewis Hamilton will start from P12 (if he avoids a penalty for potentially impeding Sergio Perez in Q1). After winning two of the last three races, Hamilton was left dejected with his result in Q2. Hamilton made a mistake at turn one and lost a lot of time in the opening sector. He couldn't make the time back up over the rest of the lap and dropped out early along with Carlos Sainz.
What went wrong for Lewis Hamilton in Zandvoort?
The Mercedes boss explained what happened. "The car is on a knife edge. Really difficult to get it right. When you get an overheating moment in a corner, it doesn't recover. I think that made it difficult for both drivers," Wolff told Sky Sports after qualifying.
But Russell didn't get away with it. Russell qualified in fourth, behind only McLaren and Max Verstappen. But Wolff wanted more. "You can say falling out in Q2 is really not good, but also, P4 is an underperformance to what we had hoped and what we saw in previous sessions," Wolff added before looking ahead to Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix.
"Pole was not on the cards. That was a really great lap. He was able to [manage] the tyres, and that was very well deserved. Podium needs to be the aim. If Norris stays ahead, he can disappear in the distance," he concluded.
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