NEWS
Wolff clueless after Quali: "Upgrade isn't working at all"
Mercedes disappoints in Malaysia qualifying. Team Principal Toto Wolff is at all satisfied with the upgrade package on the W17.
Top team Mercedes disappointed in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
While Max Verstappen smashes a dominant best time onto the asphalt in Sepang, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have to settle for fourth and eighth places.
First Pole 2026: Verstappen in a league of his own in Sepang Quali >>>
For the first time this season, no Mercedes-powered car makes it into the top three in qualifying. Due to Isack Hadjar's grid penalty, the two will start from third and seventh positions.
The Briton in particular disappoints, being over seven tenths behind pole-setter Verstappen. Team Principal Toto Wolff, however, takes his protege out of the firing line.
Wolff: "Too much drag"
"It's less about George. We simply put an upgrade on the car that isn't working at all. We're losing on all the straights," says the Austrian in an interview with ServusTV.
The Mercedes W17 "has too much drag. Something that wasn't foreseeable in this way. There's some homework to be done," Wolff further elaborates.
For the race, the 54-year-old doesn't expect any chances of victory: "If you're missing so much on the straights as we are right now, that is, of course, the easiest way to get faster. That doesn't look like the case right now." The goal on Sunday is "to understand what happened."
Antonelli's botched qualifying after track limits in Q2
Adding to the difficulties in qualifying was that Antonelli ran wide with two tires in Q2. The championship leader had to come back out on track again in his first outing due to track limits and only completed one timed lap in Q3.
"A track limit in Q2 is not ideal. Perhaps another one or two tenths could have been found. But we wouldn't have caught Verstappen's time," says Wolff.
The Italian echoes the same sentiment: The qualifying "was bad, a disgrace today." In the third free practice, in which the 20-year-old set the fastest time, "we still looked strong. Somehow it didn't really work out in qualifying."
The race starts on Sunday at 9 AM - in the LIVE ticker >>>
