Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. HOME News Politics Royal Showbiz & TV Sport Comment Finance Travel Life & Style Football Tennis F1 Boxing UFC Cricket Rugby Golf Racing NFL NBA Other Toto Wolff had some cautionary words for his drivers to take in ahead of the British Grand Prix. 16: 57, Fri, Jul 5, 2024 | UPDATED: 17: 23, Fri, Jul 5, 2024
Toto Wolff was cautious in his assessment of Mercedes’ chances this weekend (Image: Getty)
Toto Wolff has played down Mercedes’ chances of claiming back-to-back Grand Prix victories this weekend, judging the gap between his team and McLaren and Red Bull to be ‘two and a half tenths’.
George Russell heads into the race at Silverstone as the defending race winner having capitalised on a crash between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to steal a smash-and-grab win at the Red Bull Ring.
However, according to his team principal, the chances of Russell or team-mate Lewis Hamilton fighting for victory at their home race on Sunday are slim.
Assessing his squad’s prospects, Wolff said: “I think Lando and Max are probably at the moment a little bit ahead of everyone else and that’s not only on a qualifying level that can be very, very close.
“But it wasn’t in Austria because it’s a minute lap time and they [were] still two tenths quicker. But on race pace, these two seem to still be a step ahead.
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George Russell claimed his second career win last weekend in Austria (Image: Getty)
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“But we are really pushing it hard to bring more tools and toys onto the car so we are going quicker and there is a relentless push from all of the engineering and operations in the Brackley and Brixworth to be able to catch up.
“And at the moment I think George winning the race has probably maximised it and we were 15 seconds off before the crash… considering they were fighting a bit so probably a little bit more. That is two and a bit tenths per lap and this is where we judge the gap and as long as we are not able to close that gap, we are not going to fight these two.”
Wolff’s predictions looked accurate after Friday’s running at Silverstone. A rain-affected FP2 session ended with Norris at the top of the timing screens, leading home a McLaren one-two after topping FP1 earlier in the day.
Mercedes, meanwhile, endured a mixed session. Russell was forced to enter the pits twice to solve a balance issue, while Hamilton demonstrated a relatively strong pace throughout FP2.
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