Wolff on Mercedes' 'two sides of the coin' results with Antonelli and Russell

10:34, 03 May

Updated: 11:18, 03 May

byNorberto Mujica

For Mercedes, despite Andrea Kimi Antonelli's success, it turned out to be a mixed session. After all, its lead driver George Russell could not rank higher than P5 during the Sprint qualifying of the F1 Miami Grand Prix.

Wolff highlights unforgettable moment for Antonelli and sees his protegé getting better and better. "Congratulations to Kimi on his first Sprint pole position in F1," Mercedes' team principal and CEO began in a press release sent out by the German outfit.

"It was a great lap in a tight session and will be a moment he will never forget. Whilst it is good that we will start tomorrow's Sprint from P1, the most important thing is the progress we are seeing from Kimi."

"He continues to learn and get better every weekend. He has now topped a session, even if it came in Sprint Qualifying. It is another important milestone in his development, and we will continue to support him to maintain this trajectory."

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For Mercedes senior driver, Russell, it was a less inspired session. Not at all surprising since he'd not been at one with the car in any of the two sessions that were run on Friday.

"On the other side of the garage, George was slightly unlucky," said Wolff.

"He hasn't felt as comfortable in the car as Kimi today and that showed throughout FP1 and Sprint Qualifying."

"We decided to go on the early side in SQ3 to make sure he got a clean lap. That was the right decision but probably cost us a little bit of track evolution."

"He put together a decent effort but was just on the wrong side of the pack at the front. He will be determined to fight back from P5 tomorrow, before we focus on the most important session of the weekend so far in Qualifying," concluded Wolff.