Wolff Mercedes' mediocre qualifying: 'Were more competitive than expected'

Mercedes did not have a great qualifying session at Silverstone. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton came no further the sixth and seventh positions respectively in front of the home crowd. Team boss Toto Wolff argues that there is no excuse for his team's mediocre performance.

After the Grand Prix weekend in Canada, Wolff said Mercedes would come up with updates for the weekend in Britain. That would make for "decent steps" according to the team boss. However, the German constructor only came up with a new front wing for this weekend, and with that no major step seems to have been taken yet: Mercedes were still more than four-tenths behind Max Verstappen.

"Within a tenth. Between P2 and P6, there are two-tenths. There’s no excuse, it’s all so tiny. But in the end, it’s those positions. We were more competitive in qualifying in terms of lap times to what we expected. The question is, how much pace differential do you need to have to overtake tomorrow? There are a few cars ahead of us," the Mercedes team boss told Sky Sports.