Mercedes’ Toto Wolff: Brazil brought “a tricky qualifying session where each part had its own challenges”

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team had a challenging qualifying in the wet conditions of the Brazilian Grand Prix, with George Russell finishing third after causing a red flag during Q3 and Lewis Hamilton ending up in eighth place. 

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff reflected on the session’s difficulties, from the tightly packed early stages to the questionable conditions they faced in the pole shoot-out. 

“A tricky qualifying session where each part had its own challenges. It wasn’t easy to get a clear lap in, especially at the points when you needed consecutive laps, but we did manage to get through the first two sessions safely although it wasn’t as relaxing as we’d have liked.” 

Wolff said that the rain returning in Q3 made for a difficult session, as Hamilton wasn’t able to extract the pace he wanted due to a lack of grip, and Russell ended up spinning out into the gravel. He is optimistic about their opportunities to move up through the shaken-up field with the sprint ahead.

“The final session was all about track position; the conditions were deteriorating and, as it turned out, you wanted to be at the front of the group to get the best of the track. Neither driver had a great lap in the final session; George was happier with his car than Lewis who was lacking grip on the final run, but we have plenty of racing laps to recover with Lewis and at least he’s ahead of both Ferrari and one Red Bull on the grid.” 

With more wet weather expected moving forward, Wolff said that there is a great possibility for them to improve through strategy. 

“The unsettled weather is forecast to continue [so] that could make for a bit more decision-making during the sprint race than you normally have to do – and that may bring with it more opportunity.”