Despite Valtteri Bottas' victory in the sprint qualifying race, Saturday afternoon became disasterous for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. Toto Wolff says this poor start from his British driver is "unusual". Hamilton started from P2, but dropped backwards to P5. Following Bottas' engine penalty, the seven-time World Champion will start from fourth behind both McLaren drivers.
"On the positive side, Valtteri delivered a mega race, a very good start. But it was on the other hand exactly the other way around, just slept through the start. Simply [bogged down]. Also quite unusual for him," Wolff is quoted by ORF.
World Championship fight
With Bottas' three points, Mercedes hold onto the lead in the constructors. But Red Bull Racing will be favourite to take over at the top of the standings after the race. Which is somewhat of a surprise given how tradditionally strong Mercedes are on the Monza circuit.
His conclusion: "Max scored two points, of course, and Lewis none at all - and he will start from pole position tomorrow. So it could be that we gave away ten points over the weekend. Nevertheless, nothing has been lost yet," added.