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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff felt that marginal differences between his team and the rivals led to a third-row starting position for two of its drivers. The 2023 F1 Brazilian GP qualifying session featured some interesting calls from teams that were made, keeping the changing weather in mind.
In the end, in Q3, it all came down to who was going to be the first to set a lap in the session as rain was on its way. As it turned out, it was Max Verstappen in his Red Bull who got it done and was on the pole. Mercedes did not have a great session by its lofty standards in the last few races as both drivers could only secure a third-row starting position.
Lewis Hamilton will start the race in P5 while his teammate George Russell will start in P6. Looking back at the qualifying session, Wolff felt that it was the small margins that cost the team.
“I think you see the marginal differences in terms of out-laps and temperatures and I think we weren’t adaptive enough. The Aston Martins just stormed away, Max straight out of the garage with worn tyres also stormed away and that was the quickest cars and we were eight-tenths off the previous time and it shows you what we should have done," he told Sky Sports.
“I think between P1 and P8, everything was possible. Even in the dry before, you’re out of the garage, you’re first, you have everything in the sweet spot, you’re on pole,” Wolff added.
Karun Chandhok speculates why Mercedes boss was disappointed after qualifying
Karun Chandhok felt that one of the reasons why the Mercedes boss was a bit disappointed after the session was because the team had not been Red Bull's primary challenger this weekend.
“The point is they will still have a faster race car. I think he’s disappointed because they’ve come off the back of the last few weekends where arguably, they were second-fastest and now this weekend they haven’t been, they’re there or thereabouts. But they were Red Bull’s challengers the last two races and it has not happened here,” he said on the Sky Sports F1 telecast.
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be starting the race in the third row.
It needs to be seen how the Aston Martin duo performs in the race but the Mercedes pair will be looking to get a podium for the team on Sunday.
