Russell Faces Wolff’s Harsh Critique on Mercedes’ Qualifying Performance

Toto Wolff wasn’t happy with Mercedes’ qualifying results.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t make it to Q2, and even though George Russell starts from the second row, Wolff thinks Mercedes should’ve done better in Zandvoort.

What went wrong for Lewis Hamilton in Zandvoort?

Wolff explained the issues. “The car is on a knife edge. Really difficult to get it right. When you get an overheating moment in a corner, it doesn’t recover. I think that made it difficult for both drivers,” he shared with Sky Sports.

Hamilton will start from P12, unless he gets a penalty for possibly blocking Sergio Perez in Q1. After winning two of the last three races, Hamilton was upset with his Q2 result. He made a mistake at turn one, lost time, and couldn’t recover during the lap, dropping out early along with Carlos Sainz.

Russell didn’t escape criticism either. Despite qualifying fourth behind McLaren and Max Verstappen, Wolff expected more. “You can say falling out in Q2 is really not good, but also, P4 is an underperformance to what we had hoped and what we saw in previous sessions,” Wolff said as he looked forward to Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Fans might think it’s surprising how tough Wolff is on his drivers.

“Pole was not on the cards. That was a really great lap. He was able to [manage] the tyres, and that was very well deserved. Podium needs to be the aim. If Norris stays ahead, he can disappear in the distance,” Wolff concluded.

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