Will Mercedes win a race in 2022? 'Shouldn't think about that'

That George Russell would achieve his first pole position of his F1 career in Budapest was not foreseen by many fans. At the Hungarian track, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari seemed to be battling it out and after problems at Max Verstappen 's team, everything pointed to Ferrari filling the front row of the grid with both drivers. Russell put a stop to that, but whether this means Mercedes are now actually as fast as the top teams remains unclear.

According to team principal Toto Wolff it is a vain hope. Speaking to Autosport  the Austrian admits that he does not yet place Mercedes in the same league as Ferrari and Red Bull. "In my personal opinion, we're still lacking to the frontrunners. You've seen that Leclerc on the right tyre is still a dominant force. But at least we were in the same race."

No victories for Mercedes yet

It was different earlier this season, as without crashes or problems at the top teams, Mercedes were condemned to fifth or sixth place. However, there were plenty of problems at the competitors, which has left Mercedes only 30 points behind Ferrari. Yet Wolff expects little special in the second half of the season.

"I don't want to say now suddenly we are right bang into the game and we can win races because I don't think that's the case," he said. According to Wolff, the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari is now too big to really think about race wins. Mercedes will, in any case, continue to develop hard to close the gap to the two teams in an attempt to take second place in the constructors' championship.