Toto Wolff admits the outcome of Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix was disappointing for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport team, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton only second and fourth respectively at a track the team have usually been dominant at in recent years.
Bottas was denied pole position by Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just 0.093 seconds, while Hamilton was only fourth behind Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, and Wolff, the Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, feels that tiny details contributed to the outfit not securing a front row lockout around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“We were not quick enough today in qualifying, which is pretty disappointing at a circuit where we have traditionally been very strong, and P2 and P4 on the grid reflect that,” said Wolff.
“It once again showed us that this is a championship where tiny details will make the difference in the end: the gaps are measured in fractions of a tenth of a second and every single small detail counts towards our final performance.
“It’s not one factor or the other, but every piece of the puzzle that we need to get right if we want to win.”
Wolff feels tyres played a key part in Qualifying, with Bottas failing to improve on his second set of tyres in the top ten shoot-out while Hamilton struggled throughout with the Hypersoft Pirelli tyre. It is then pleasing for the Austrian team principal that neither driver will need to start the race on the pink-banded tyre, choosing instead to get through Q2 on the purple-banded Ultrasoft.
“Valtteri drove well to take P2 with a very strong first run – but then unfortunately couldn’t improve on his final set of tyres,” said Wolff. “Lewis made a useful improvement on that last run but was never totally comfortable on the Hypersoft tyre today and his qualifying position shows that.
“The positive is that we have both cars starting on the Ultrasoft, so we hope to be in a strong position for the race with a number of strategic options.”
