Toto Wolff after Qualifying: “We are just lacking pace”

© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.

After his drivers missed out on pole position at the French Grand Prix Qualifying, Toto Wolff says Mercedes needs to “gain everywhere”.

“[It’s a] difficult weekend because we are just lacking pace,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1 after Qualifying.

“That’s the truth. It looked much worse than at the end [where] we ended up, but we just need to gain everywhere.

“There’s not one part that we are not looking at, in order to improve our game.”

Max Verstappen seems to have benefited from Red Bull choosing to go down the low-downforce route, and managed to take pole position at the French Grand Prix.

However, when asked about it, Toto Wolff said he doesn’t believe it would have been the right choice for his team.

“We believe, that as far as simulation, it was the slower version,” the Austrian explained.

“You can see they were fast in the straight line. If we are bolting on the low-downforce wing, we will be losing in the corners much more.”


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The hot conditions in France caused a lot of overheating on soft tyre runs. Wolff was asked if hot tyres were one of the reasons why Mercedes lost out to Red Bull.

“I don’t know if it’s not the opposite with us because in Q1 and Q2, the second run, basically the third lap, Lewis was able to go much quicker.

“So yes it’s about heating it up the right way on the out-lap, but there is something out there [on the track causing it].

The Austrian was also asked if Lewis Hamilton voiced any concerns about the chassis swap between him and team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

“No, absolutely not. It is a decision the team took and the drivers were informed midweek. There wasn’t even a comment about it from them.

“I think it’s just in the driver’s mind if things don’t feel right and that is absolutely fair enough.

“We even offered a chassis change overnight but no, we stuck with what we had,” concluded the Austrian.

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