Wolff full of disbelief: 'Red Bull straight-line speed mind-boggling'

Red Bull Racing won the Australian Grand Prix for the first time in 11 years with Max Verstappen. The Dutchman started from pole, but was third after three corners. Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton later on the track, with a huge speed difference. Toto Wolff called the straight-line speed of the RB19 at Motorsport.com 'mind-boggling'.

Verstappen got off to a poor start, allowing George Russell to pass him in turn one. At turn three, Verstappen was again the loser, this time he was overtaken by Hamilton. Russell was unlucky with the red flag which left Verstappen with only Hamilton in front. The Dutchman was past the Briton in no time with a huge difference in top speed.

Wolff baffled

In Saudi Arabia, Verstappen also passed the seven-time World Champion with a huge speed difference. On this, the Brit said after the race that the RB19 was the fastest car he had ever seen. Almost the same thing happened two weeks later in Australia, only this time it was about the leading position. Wolff is amazed by the speed of the Red Bull with DRS open.

"They opened up a speed advantage on the straights with the DRS, which is just mind-boggling," Wolff told Motorsport.com. Yet the Austrian also praised the work Red Bull have done. "If you have a car that is fast on the straights because you have done a good job, then it's up to us to figure this out and find tools to find the same performance on the straights."

Wolff on Mercedes speed in Australia

Mercedes was able to compete with Aston Martin and Ferrari in Australia, this was too high in the first two races. In Australia, Hamilton even finished ahead of both competitors. Wolff thinks this is mainly down to the track. "Our car lacks some performance at the rear. This circuit definitely helped us. It made us look a bit better than we are, but we know our weaknesses and we just have to solve them."