Mercedes faces a challenge, but in wet weather 'anything can happen'

Mercedes had a poor qualifying session at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Lewis Hamilton still finished in the top three, but Valtteri Bottas was no further than eighth and will only start twelfth due to his grid penalty from Hungary.

"It was a difficult session, and it is always tricky to predict the weather here, especially when it is coming in and out so fast. In the end, we can be satisfied with P3 for Lewis and everything is to play for tomorrow. We have a strong race car, perhaps more set up for the dry. If the weather is like this, we might struggle a bit more, but otherwise I think we should be in for a good race," team principal Toto Wolff said on the official site of Mercedes.

Hamilton and Bottas ready for battle

Bottas is up for a challenge, he is in for a big catch-up race. "It was definitely a challenge out there and of course, I hoped for a better result. Obviously with the grid penalty, it means tomorrow won’t be easy, but I’ll be fighting hard. If it is wet, there will be many opportunities, and if it is dry, we have a competitive car. It’ll be a big challenge but as we have seen, anything can happen."

Hamilton, like Wolff, is also hoping for dry weather during the race. "For me, my first lap was really good, but I lost some tyre temperature on the slow lap in between my runs, so I think there was a little bit left on the table with that final lap. You live and you learn, and I gave it everything I had today. But we’ll look to move forward tomorrow. I’m hoping for better weather and a dry day, that’d be great for the fans and also interesting to see where everyone stands with the wing level."