Toto Wolff is reasonably satisfied with Mercedes’ qualifying and hopes that Red Bull Racing’s winning streak will come to an end at Monza. The Austrian team boss is looking at Ferrari for this, but Wolff still expects Max Verstappen to be the top favorite for victory at the Italian Grand Prix. However, the Mercedes team boss expects problems for his team. Mercedes records low speeds on the straights.
Prior to the weekend, Mercedes already knew it would be a difficult weekend at the Monza circuit. “The car has too much air resistance for this kind of circuit,” Wolff is quoted by Autosport. The team boss of the German team dug into the data and saw that the team was at the bottom everywhere in terms of top speed. “Luckily you can still have a lot of drag and not be fast on the straight and still get a good lap time.”
George Russell is allowed to start from fourth place, putting Mercedes in good position for the race to potentially take a podium. The improvement with last season is also clear. “We were 1.2 seconds slower last year. We knew that little down pressure would not suit us, after Spa and also Baku. The car should be fast everywhere, but these were problematic circuits for us, so given the time difference from our faster car to the front runners, I think we have reason to be half-satisfied.”
Wolff hopes for Ferrari
However, there does not seem to be a chance for victory for Mercedes. Wolff hopes that Red Bull’s winning streak will come to an end and is therefore looking at Ferrari, which is in pole position with Carlos Sainz. Whether they can really convert that into speed over the entire race remains to be seen. I think Verstappen is still the favorite for the race for me because overall the car has just been so good, and he’s not making any mistakes. But it would be good for F1 I think if they give him a hard time. If we can’t win, Ferrari has to do it,” said Wolff.
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