Mercedes five and seven seconds behind: 'Painful, but instructive'

The rain in Imola did not make the teams closer together, but rather made them further apart. Lewis Hamilton missed a whopping seven seconds on Charles Leclerc's fastest time. According to Toto Wolff, this deficit is painful, but also instructive.

Wolff is not too worried about the huge gap Mercedes is facing after FP1 in Imola. Ferrari was rock solid and no other team or driver came close to Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Mercedes remained completely far behind; the team then again suffered a lot from porpoising. In George Russell 's case, the floor even broke due to the heavy bumping. The difference with Ferrari is that with Mercedes the car does not stabilize after braking and with Ferrari it does.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the Mercedes team boss said, "When you're optimistic, if we are able to unlock the potential, I think we can fight for the championship. But if you look at the gaps, it looks unrealistic. I like getting it wrong, because that means you learn so much more. It's painful in the moment, certainly when you see it five seconds off the pace you want to strangle yourself. But as a matter of fact, I enjoy the challenge. I enjoy it being bad because over the long run with these regulations we're going to be good."