© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
After miscommunication deprived Lewis Hamilton of an opportunity for Belgian GP Sprint Race pole, Toto Wolff says “between both of the drivers and the team, we just need to ramp up our game”.
The Belgian Grand Prix Sprint Shootout did not go the way Mercedes had hoped, with Lewis Hamilton qualifying in P7 and George Russell in P10.
To make things worse, Lewis had an opportunity to fight for pole, but his final SQ3 lap was essentially ruined because George did not move for him quickly enough.
Mercedes later confirmed this happened due to miscommunication, and now team boss Toto Wolff says the everybody needs to “ramp up” their game.
“Between both of the drivers and the team, we just need to ramp up our game,” the Austrian said.
“In this situation, where it is about crossing the [start/finish] line, in tough conditions, we have to just get some precision and very quickly, you can look very good, very intelligent or very bad.
“If [Lewis and George] didn’t tangle in the way they did, Max [Verstappen] would have missed the final lap.
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“Having said that, he is not the driver we should be focused on, but instead on ourselves. We had the time to give them both a proper launch.
“Lewis was on provisional pole and then ended up seventh. All of us together know that it shouldn’t be happening.
“When you see that he was leading the pack before that last lap, it is clearly a problem for all of us.
“It is not that [Lewis] has missed out on pole or the front row, but the team has missed out on it and all of us together.
“It’s really a constant development and learning process, and with the with the badness that happened, we discussed afterwards and we’ve made a step in correcting that.
“But we’ve tripped up a few times, and now need to make sure we up our game,” Wolff concluded.
