Wolff: Ferrari had "double whammy" advantage in Belgium

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes that Ferrari had a performance advantage over Mercedes in Spa and says it was a "double whammy".

Wolff claims that their advantage wasn't just down to their superior engine.

Ferrari were always tipped for a strong performance at Spa-Francorchamps, as the track is predominatly power-dominated - and it's no secret nowadays that Ferrari's power unit is remarkably quick.

"They have a power advantage, we have seen that in Qualifying," Wolff explained to RaceFans.net. "Their power advantage at various parts of the straight. You can see that even if the (corner) exits are wose than ours, the engine keeps pulling."

Wolff also spoke on Lewis Hamilton's comments, when the Brit claimed that Ferrari have a "few tricks" regarding their power unit.

"That is nothing that could be a so-called 'trick'," Wolff added. "It might also be related to how you run your engine, how you calibrate it. The same way they derated earlier in qualifying yesterday than we did." 

Hamilton was overtaken by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel very early on in yesterday's race despite starting on-pole, and Wolff has explained another reason to why Hamilton wasn't able to keep hold of his lead.

"They have a slight power advantage, and then you add that to our weaknesses out of turn one especially and that causes the double whammy," Wolff revealed. "If you aren't very good on traction, and you're being out-performed slightly on power, then lap one happens."