Mercedes had a disappointing first day in Melbourne. Especially in the second free practice, the German team left a lot to be desired compared to the competition. Toto Wolff tells Sky Sports' German branch where things went wrong.

In the first free practice, Mercedes looked somewhat competitive. George Russell grabbed third place, just 0.033 seconds behind Lando Norris, who drove the fastest time. In VT2, however, things went wrong. Mercedes was suddenly a lot slower. This resulted in sixth place for Russell, with a gap of 0.674 seconds towards number one Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton disappointed completely. He finished only eighteenth out of 19 drivers in action in VT2.

Wolff disappointed in free practice Mercedes in Australia

Team boss Wolff also sees the decline between VT1 and VT2. He points to a change to the set-up. "That one backfired hugely," Wolff says. However, according to him, that is not the only reason things are not going great in Australia so far. He also points to a lack of performance from the car. "Overall it was not a good day," admits Wolff.

Hamilton holds out hope for GP Australia

However, Hamilton does not want to give up hope just yet: "We started the day well and in VT1 the car felt good overall. The first run was actually the best the car has felt so far this year. To continue learning, we made some big changes in VT2 and unfortunately the car deteriorated as a result. It was tough, but there are positives we can take from the first session. We will work hard tonight to make improvements ahead of tomorrow."