Toto Wolff admits to Mercedes confusion over lack of qualifying pace

Mercedes arrived at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with high expectations. George Russell had put together an impressive showing last time out in Azerbaijan, and major upgrades had been delivered for this weekend.

After topping the timesheets ahead of qualifying in Free Practice 3 with Kimi Antonelli, it looked like the signs were good for Mercedes.

However, in Q3, it did not turn out as Mercedes expected, as Antonelli qualified in fourth, but will start from third due to penalties ahead of him, and Russell could only manage to qualify in eighth.

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff revealed his confusion after the qualifying session.

“Very difficult to understand,” Wolff told Sky Sports after qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. 

“We have been a little bit caught out on Friday with some car behavior that we didn't see earlier. But then you can say it's very hot, and the tarmac is very different from all the tracks. 

“We looked really good in the morning. You know, we seemed to have, at least with Kimi, made a step in understanding. And then qualifying was a little bit back to what we saw before, just no performance.”

When questioned about what exactly went wrong for Mercedes, Wolff revealed that they ended up losing more time down the straights than they were expecting.

Wolff said, “It looks like we are very draggy, because it's the first time that we're losing a lot of time on the straights, especially to Max.

“And then through the low speed, at Turn 2, we're not able to turn the car. There's just too much understeer. So, overall, things we haven't seen earlier.”

There had been suggestions that Red Bull and Ferrari were sandbagging on Saturday morning, which is what caught Mercedes off guard.

However, Wolff does not believe this theory and insists that it was an internal issue for Mercedes.

“Something else is going on, and we have to understand,” he stated.

“This is now working through the data and putting our heads together, because we still believe that the upgrade works. We just need to understand why not here.

“You're expecting three tenths to kick in, and it looks like three or four or five tenths backwards. This is the first time we have missed out on the top three by quite a chunk. But I guess we will find a solution.”

Mercedes has time to find a solution for these unexpected problems, but Wolff is not overly confident that the car will be any better in race conditions.

“You know, I'm never positive,” Wolff said. 

“Even if we had put it on the pole by five tenths, I wouldn't have been exuberant for tomorrow. 

“I don't know what to expect tomorrow from the race with the heat. It could be better; it could be worse. This is now about understanding what the car is doing.”