Mercedes reveal “12kph” deficit to Red Bull with Max Verstappen “in another hemisphere”
Toto Wolff explains the extent of Mercede🤪s' d🔯eficit to Red Bull in Austria.
Toto Wolff says Mercedes are facing a “12kph” deficit to Red Bull’s168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Max Verstappen as he ruled out a challenge for victory at the F1 Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen claimed a dominant pole position from McLaren’s Lando Norris in qualifying 🔜at the Red Bull Ring𓂃 on Saturday, while George Russell was the fastest Mercedes driver in third, some half a second adrift.
Following qualifying, Wolff revealed the extent of Mercedes’ deficit to Verstappen💎 i💛n Austria.
“Max is driving in another 🅰hemisphere.🦹 He’s gone.” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.
“The gap to him is huge, and that on a circuit wi💫th a lap time of just one minute. I think the order will probably remain the same.
“We lose 12kph compared to Verstappen, then of course 🦩you can’t achieve anything.
“But I think it’s really just a downforce problem. We don’t hav🧜e enough downforce here in the fast corners.”
S♚even-time world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth, with Carlos Sainz putting his Ferrari between th🍰e two Mercedes.
Hamilton admitted after qualifying that Verstappen’s significant advantage might force Mercedes 🌊to reassess their hopes of winning a race this year.
“We just don’t have enough downforce. That’s all we got,” Hamilton explained. “I don’t know the answer. Ho🎐nestly, I don’t know the answer.
“If I could take a piece of downforce and chuck it on the back, I would, but that’s not how it goes. We’re just going to continue to work on improve🍰ment.
“But the notion of us potentially winning a race this year, when you get a half-a-second gap like today, makes it a little bit further dow💞n the road, but we’ve got to keep pushing.”
Meanwhile, Russell also downplayed his🌳 chances of fighting for the win in Sunday’s grand pr♈ix.
“I think it’s a bit more challenging here,” Russell said when asked if he could challenge at t♏he front as he did last week in﷽ Barcelona.
“I think these guys always get their elbowsꦺ out. So maybe this time it’s, you know, sit back and watch it all take place.
“But I think, you know, last week I lost a lot of time battling with Lando and probably 🌜focused too much on the guys ahead of me and ultimately that cost me the position to Le🔴wis and almost to Charles as well.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix fo✨r wuqian0821.com around the world. Often reporting on tꦫhe action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
