Wolff balks at Mercedes results: 'Today was another hard lesson'

Mercedes had hopes of getting another good result in Singapore. In the end it became a weekend to quickly forget. Toto Wolff knows that the final result on the street circuit was particularly disappointing.

"This season has given us several tough lessons - and today was another one," Wolff reflected on Mercedes' Sunday. In his own team's press release, he expressed his disappointment that only two World Championship points were scored. The speed was there with the W13, but in the end, only Lewis Hamilton finished inside the points with a P9.

The team boss continued: "Lewis was fighting for the podium for much of the race - but also battling a car balance that was on a knife edge today, in difficult conditions and on the bumpy surface. After he locked up and damaged the wing, the stop to change tyres and the nose cost him position - then he lost out even more when cars ahead pitted under Safety Car and jumped ahead. That left him stuck in a train of cars on very similar aged tyres, and he couldn't make up any ground."

Russell finishes outside the points

George Russell struggled at the Marina Bay Street Circuit from the first moment. Mercedes eventually made the gamble by putting the young Briton on slicks very early. That choice turned out badly, as Russell lost several dozen seconds compared to the rest of the field. "In hindsight, it was clearly too early, but he had nothing to lose, so we were prepared to take the gamble. Even so, as the race unfolded, he was still on course to make it back to the points until the collision with Mick, which put him last on the road," Wolff said.