Wolff prefers current situation amid reliability issues: 'Better than being behind on performance'

Antonelli was on course to challenge Charles Leclerc for victory on fresher tyres at the British Grand Prix, but a car issue prevented the young Italian from finishing in the points last Sunday.

Speaking to GPblog among others, Wolff explained what went wrong: "It looks like it was a brake duct, the cake tin and wheel shield. Something got stuck in there and that's why it wasn't able to turn. I've seen the car, but it's not yet clear really what happened. We've got to take the whole car back to the factory in order to take it apart again to really see where it happened, how it happened, and why we have such severe consequences of maybe not being able to turn."

The Austrian said that reliability issues have continuously hurt the team over the season. "Generally, we just had too many DNFs and lost two second places and now one victory. Other than the top car that we have, and the great driving, that is the predominant issue."

Wolff also highlighted that, given the team's recent victories, he prefers this over having a car that is not only unreliable but also slow. He added: "I think we are such a performance organization on the chassis and engine side, we want to squeeze everything out. But I'd rather dial back a little bit, something that is really good, and fix some of the reliability gremlins, rather than running behind on performance. So far, we've won seven races out of nine. And I'd rather have this than slow and unreliable."