The Mercedes Formula 1 team faced significant challenges during the Hungarian GP Qualifying session, leading to stern words from Team Principal Toto Wolff.
George Russell was unable to advance beyond Q1, relegating him to start the race from 17th position. The mishap was down to a fuelling error, a critical oversight by the Brackley outfit. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton managed a 5th position start, struggling with the changing track temperatures that impacted his car’s speed.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the session, Wolff commented:
“That was a total underperformance from literally everybody involved here. Losing a car in Q1 is just not on… driver-team combination, it shouldn’t happen. And at the end we just didn’t have the pace. A very, very disappointing day.
“[Russell] should have had the first lap in when Lewis went P1. He said that was probably taking it too easy,” added Wolff.
“Then the other one was we put a lap of fuel too little in, but it was a different run plan. It was a fast-slow-fast and he decided to do three fast laps.
“Overall it’s 70 per cent the team’s mistake on not fuelling one lap more.”
Russell also voiced his frustration about the situation, explaining the double blow of adverse conditions and insufficient fuel. Also speaking with Sky Sports F1, the British driver commented:
“I was on track when it was wettest and when it was dry I had no fuel. It was a disaster from both aspects. We should have got through comfortably on that last lap, but we had no fuel. That was on me for being in the position in the first place.
“It was not our usual standard, for sure. I need to understand what happened on my side at the beginning, but having enough fuel for the whole session is a fundamental. As a team we made a big error.”
The 7-time champion, expressing his own disappointments, remarked on the fluctuations in performance due to temperature changes.
“We came to try and be at the front and you can never be satisfied.
“I think we did an okay job and I think we’ve done everything we could. We got the car in a relatively decent place, but when it gets hot we’re just not particularly fast.
“When the session started it was much cooler and we were rapid. As soon as the temperature picked up, others got faster and we got slower – or didn’t get any faster at least.”
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