© Sulay Kelly for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
After the Miami Grand Prix Sprint Race, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said “the pace of the car was not so bad”, but they still need to “change direction for quali”.
After awful Miami Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying, Mercedes performed a little bit better in the Sprint Race, especially Lewis Hamilton who went from P12 to P8.
Unfortunately, after the race he received a penalty for speeding in the pitlane, which demoted him to P16.
Still, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says it was overall a better outing for the team.
“I don’t think you can expect a lot in a Sprint race,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“There was not lots of overtaking. You can see a quick car on the straight like [Daniel] Ricciardo is able to hold back the train and end up where he started.
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“I think the penalty for pit-lane speeding, these things can happen… these errors. In that respect I think the pace of the car was not so bad today, from the limited amount we were able to see there.
“Setup wise, clearly we need to change direction for quali. We weren’t working the mediums at all [in Sprint Qualifying].
“Literally zero grip, and then you get all the snaps and you have no performance anymore. It’s no excuse. We’ve seen it with other teams, McLaren in Q3 on the softs and suddenly going backwards.
“They remain a little bit of a trick, but it’s the same for everyone,” the Austrian concluded.
