Formula 1 | Mercedes, Wolff after qualifying: “Unacceptable result”

from Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

There is a lot of disappointment at Mercedes for the performances offered by Hamilton and Russell in qualifying in Belgium. The two English drivers qualified in seventh and eighth position respectively, but thanks to the penalties of others they will be able to start in fourth and fifth. However, this does not erase the gap of one second and eight tenths from Max Verstappen's pole position, unacceptable for a dominant team in the power unit era and which this season has suffered badly from the regulation change.

“The qualifying result was very disappointing – admitted Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal. However, the penalties of the others will make us start further ahead. In Hungary we were in pole position, although some unusual circumstances worked in our favor, while here in Spa we are almost two seconds from pole position. Nobody in the team thinks this gap is acceptable, but even now after fourteen races we don't understand how to make the car work. There's a lot of drag on the straights, and we weren't able to give the two drivers the opportunity to have confidence in the car. We hope to have a better race pace, but we know how much work there will be to do in the coming months regardless of the result obtained."