Wolff talks to media after all: "Will be a very difficult session"

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4 June 2021 at 18:01
Last update 4 June 2021 at 20:46
  • GPblog.com

Toto Wolff initially refused to address the press in Azerbaijan after a dramatic first day for the Mercedes team. The Austrian team boss later changed his mind. Wolff agrees with Valtteri Bottas that there is something fundamentally wrong with the W12.

"We have a strong race car, but we are struggling to get it right over one lap," he is quoted as saying by Motorsport-Total. com and others . In some places on the Baku City Circuit, Mercedes' 2021 car fails to deliver, something that was actually the case in Monaco two weeks ago.

Major problems for Mercedes

Wolff: "There are only 90-degree corners here, so it was always obvious that it would be difficult for us. From the lap times you can clearly see that something is fundamentally wrong. We are now trying to tune the car to make it work, he explained.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ended the second free practice in eleventh and sixteenth place respectively. Can Mercedes go for its fourth pole position Saturday? "It will be a very difficult session. Maybe one of the most difficult I've ever experienced here. It reminds me of Singapore 2015." Six years ago, Mercedes came no further than fifth and sixth on the street circuit. The difference with the pole time then was almost one and a half seconds.