Toto Wolff was delighted to see his two drivers lock out the front row of the grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton took pole position ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg.
The two championship rivals were in a class of their own, being the only two drivers to dip beneath the seventy-one second mark in qualifying at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, with Hamilton securing his sixtieth pole position of his career.
The result also gave the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team a record-breaking nineteenth pole position of the season, and Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Wolff was ecstatic to see his drivers head the field once more.
“What a fantastic qualifying session with everything coming down to the final lap between the two boys,” said Wolff. “Lewis did a great lap and was quickest in every part of qualifying.
“Nico was actually a few hundredths ahead on his final lap until Turn 12, where he couldn’t get on the throttle early enough and lost the advantage up the hill. It was just a really tight session with both drivers on the limit and slugging it out on track, just like it should be.”
Wolff is hopeful the team can make all the right decisions on race day to ensure Hamilton and Rosberg are battling for the victory, especially with the weather looking uncertain, although he is happy with the gap to their rivals in the Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing teams.
“Looking ahead to the race, the weather forecast looks uncertain and it will be down to our drivers to make the most of their opportunities,” said Wolff. “Our job is to make sure that we don’t let them down.
“The other positive from today was a surprisingly good gap to the teams behind – bigger than we have seen recently. But that can easily change in different circumstances during the race.”
