Wolff after Verstappen victory: "It could have been worse for us"

According to Toto Wolff, Mercedes were simply not good enough to beat Red Bull Racing at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Mercedes boss had already put the win out of his mind when Max Verstappen cashed in on pole position. 

"We weren't on our A-game this weekend," Wolff told various media outlets, including Motorsport-Magazin.com. The Mercedes team boss states that Max Verstappen is the justified winner at the Yas Marina Circuit. "Red Bull deserved to win. Albon was fast too. It could have been worse for us."

No team orders at Mercedes

The balance of the W11 was not optimal all weekend, including on Sunday. "We have been suffering from understeer all day long," said the 48-year-old Austrian, who did not think about letting Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton change positions. "I always want to avoid something like this when it is not for a world championship."

The chief had given up hope relatively quickly. "You can't overtake here, everything depends on the start of the race. When the safety car was also created, it was clear what the result would be," Wolff concludes.