Wolff disputes Bottas' claims of victory chance at Silverstone

Mercedes' team principal Toto Wolff was adamant that the win was not there for the team and it was its responsibility to secure second and third in yesterday's race.

Wolff explained how he believed, due to the pace from eventual winner Max Verstappen and Red Bull as well as the team's issues with tyre blistering throughout the race, it would not have been possible to take the victory at Silverstone.

The comment was made in response to third-placed Valtteri Bottas' claims after the race, stating his belief that his team left a possible win behind them.

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"No, the win was not there for us," Wolff said after the race.

"Clearly, we were not the fastest car and then you cannot optimise the strategy. Did we get it right or wrong? Not clear but definitely if you had such a margin as Max had it was for us to take second and third and to protect the position.

Race confirmed Mercedes struggles in hot temperatures

Wolff believed that the high temperatures experienced during the race confirmed that the team are still struggling in warmer conditions.

The issue has been a common achilles heel for the team in recent years, seeing Mercedes struggle in hotter locations such as Austria and Singapore.

Wolff said that the team will continue to work to resolve the issue as F1 moves to Barcelona next weekend, possibly facing much warmer temperature than that experienced during the usual Spanish Grand Prix slot of May.

In a way yes and in a way no," Wolff explained.

"We seen that we have this deficit in very hot temperatures and this was the case today, but today we got the confirmation.

"We were not able to hold onto the tyres because of blistering, and Max was posting green times and going faster and that is something we need to get on top of and understand."