Wolff not giving up: 'Hamilton extra motivated to chase him'

Toto Wolff has accepted Mercedes' loss from qualifying in Abu Dhabi, and admits he will move on, and focus on Sunday's race. The Mercedes team boss saw pole position go to Max Verstappen, despite the fact Lewis Hamilton seemed to be in excellent form all weekend.

Wolff says he takes the result for what it is. "One-nil to them," the Austrian admitted to Sky Sports. He points out that the Red Bull driver got his tyres up to temperature perfectly and that the tow strategy in conjunction with Sergio Perez worked extremely well for the team.

1-0 to Red Bull

Still, the Mercedes team boss sees no reason to give up, given the forced tyre strategy Verstappen is on. "I would much rather start from P2 and much rather start on the medium. We will have a slight disadvantage on the start and the first six or seven laps, if he drives fast. " Wolff said to Sky Sports.

However, if Verstappen manages to pull away, he fears that that advantage will get smaller every lap. "If he manages it [on the softs] it won't be a big advantage going forward. We can go longer and aggressive undercut also and protect the position. So, overnight they will be running programmes and algorithms" he continued.

What does worry Wolff is Red Bull's speed in the long runs: "I am absolutely worried for tomorrow because there long runs were much better but our tyres weren't in the window and they were. Q1 and 2 was ours and looked like a pretty easy run."

But, he thinks Hamilton will be extra motivated by today's loss. "There is nothing you need to say. I think he is going to be angry and motivated for tomorrow to hunt him down. We are on the back foot but that is not bad for the starting point" said the Mercedes team boss.