During Friday qualifying, Mercedes missed out on Q3 for the first time since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix, with George Russell qualifying 11th and Lewis Hamilton down in 13th.
That made the underperforming Brackley team’s exercise in damage limitation, which it had executed well in F1 2022’s first three races, an extremely difficult task at Imola.
But while Mercedes was hoping to benefit from the Saturday sprint race to move up the order and gain a better starting position for Sunday’s grand prix, it was stunned to find it instead made zero progress during the 21-lap sprint.
Russell finished where he started, while Hamilton even lost a spot – to AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda – and is now starting from 14th instead.
Team boss Wolff admitted the weekend was a “complete write-off” and “another humbling experience” as his drivers were languishing in a midfield DRS train.
“I think points scoring needs to be the minimum, but this is not where we set our expectations and therefore this weekend is a complete write-off,” Wolff conceded.
“You can say ‘well, we’re trying to learn’, but we weren’t great with tyre warm-up, that’s why there is not a lot that can be really done.
“There is no miracle you can expect at the race start because the overtaking is so difficult. We can make up positions. We’ve shown it today but not quickly and therefore beyond the fact that we are learning it’s another humbling experience.”
George Russell, Mercedes W13, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Russell explained Mercedes was also lacking the top speed to make the most of Imola’s generous DRS zone, which enabled several straightforward passes for position after Friday’s wet qualifying had left many quicker cars out of position.
Instead, the team will be forced to employ an alternative strategy to move up the field in Sunday’s race.
“It’s tricky, these sprint races,” Russell said. “I don’t know what the rest of the race was like, but it felt processional…
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