Toto Wolff takes a dig: "In a way, that's sad"

The Austrian was critical of the system. After the sprint race, Wolff said on Hamilton's team radio: "F*ck them all". Wolff added context to this quote and he also explained how Mercedes found out about the disqualification.

"I didn't mean it towards the regulations. A general mindset we have. The point is that yesterday the car was tested, and two hours before the race we were disqualified. In a way, that's sad. There are procedures in F1. A protocol you have to follow. We had a car that wasn't in breach of regulations of the 85mm slot gap. We failed tests by the tiniest of margins. In the past, that would've meant fix it. We've seen it with the Red Bull rear wing last weekend," Wolff said on the Sky Sports camera.

"The FIA has our cut drawings. We wanted to leave the wing with them. We weren't allowed to look at the wing because it was simply damaged through the qualifying session. None of these arguments counted. We failed that one test and their argument needs to be respected. This is why we decided not to appeal. If the stewards decide, you have to take it on the chin." 

Good Sprint for Mercedes

Bottas took the lead at the start of the race with an aggressive soft tyre strategy. Hamilton made up many places during the race and reached P5 on the grid. He moves back five places due to a fifth ICE. 

"Sometimes after the greatest frustrations with F1, you see this awesome 60 minutes with Valtteri totally in control of the race. We had a great car, good strategy and good straight-line speed. Just brilliant, not letting the other guy close. As for Lewis, I think he did 16 overtakes to finish 5th. It's great to forget the politics for a moment and watch great racing. We didn't suffer with the tyres, a different game tomorrow. Wings were checked again today, they were okay. And he's not starting from P20, but P10. So more encouraging than it looked 90 minutes ago," Wolff added.