Wolff: Friday practice was a ‘mixed’ day

Editor
Toto Wolff Mercedes

Toto Wolff Mercedes

Toto Wolff has admitted that it was a “mixed” day for Mercedes on Friday, as they failed to top either session at Spa-francorchamps.

Both of the Ferrari drivers topped a session on Friday, with the news also coming through that Valtteri Bottas will have to start from the back of the grid due to a complete engine change.

The Mercedes team boss believes that the new engine should help Bottas, and hopefully give the pair a boost in qualifying.

“Mixed. I think we were doing okay on the single lap pace, it was very tight with Ferrari,” Wolff said after the day’s running.

“Then we were good on the softer tyres but not so good on the mediums.”

Both Mercedes and Ferrari have brought upgrades to their power units for the Belgian Grand Prix, with neither team knowing who has done the better job.

“It is the third power unit and obviously we have two power sensitive circuits to come in here [Spa] and then Monza,” the Austrian continued.

“We have made a little step so let’s see how we can monetise it tomorrow in qualifying.

“Yeah I think we have seen that in the last engine iterations that we were able to make steps forward.

“I don’t know what Ferrari has achieved, we will see the truth tomorrow in Q3. I am hopeful that we have made the right step.”

Wolff also spent some time relaxing over the summer break, but was also kept busy at the same time due to the ongoing Force India saga, which has now been resolved.

“It was nice to spend some time with the family but then the Force India thing obviously kept me busy,” he added.

Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page.