Wolff had expected two-stops at Red Bull: "Then they could have put pressure"
General
Toto Wolff is very pleased with another one-two for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas had a relatively easy weekend in Belgium, although Red Bull Racing with Max Verstappen could have come closer if they had gone for a two-stop. In any case, that is Wolff's opinion.
"I think the pace was good. I have nothing negative to say about that. At the end the tyres ran out, so it was a bit of a sweat", Wolff at Sky Sports says. However, the Austrian chief saw that it wasn't necessarily the W11. "The same was true for Max and in the end we all had to manage the tyres.
Should Red Bull have opted for a different strategy?
Verstappen decided not to go in for fresh rubber when his hard tyres started to work less. According to Mercedes' calculations, Red Bull would have been better off bringing in the Dutchman's RB16. "Then they could have put us under pressure.
Wolff also went into the ban on qualifying mode. From the Italian GP at Monza the party mode will no longer be allowed. "The fact that we are being slowed down is a bit annoying, because it gives too little credit to the people in our factory," he concluded.