Toto Wolff: "Today was no mistake"

Mercedes looked set to take a front-row lockout in the Russian Grand Prix until the final session of qualifying. Lewis Hamilton kissed the wall in the pit lane when coming in for slick tyres. Mercedes team boss says the team didn't make a mistake. 

Disaster for Mercedes

On a weekend where Max Verstappen takes an engine penalty, and a historically successful circuit for Mercedes, the German team need to make the most of their advantage if they want to win the 2021 World Championships. Wolff reacts to the incident. 

"There are situations which are really unfortunate. It's not that we made a mistake or the drivers contributed to it. We were the first cars out in the session, that's why were we in a sequence that we would've aborted the last two runs on the intermediates to get two soft runs in. Or we played it safe and finish the lap which we did. Even without Lewis' kiss on the wall, we wouldn't have done two laps," Wolff told Sky Sports. 

"Today was no mistake. If you let me turn back what we would change, maybe not go out first on the track. Knowing that this would've happened, is crystal ball reading. At the end of the day, it was unlucky. it cost us P1 and P2 and we need to turn it around tomorrow. These things sometimes go against you. I don't know if it damaged the suspension, the knock made no difference to where we were on the track. We would have been fast enough for front-row but you have no chance to heat it up."

But Wolff remains confident Mercedes will turn it around tomorrow. "With Lewis where he is, we can win. That should be the aim," Wolff added.