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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.
MORE: Disappointed Bottas accuses Mercedes of 'sleeping' after losing victory
MORE: Verstappen explains how he managed to defeat Mercedes at Silverstone
"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."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
Replies (4)
Login to replyf1ski
Posts: 726
Valteri never stood a chance because if MB had a winning car there was only one and vaulter wasn't driving it!
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Toto just seems so much angrier these days. It's strange. He's always been the shrewd but good guy on the grid. I rarely recall him contradicting his drivers in such an open way, even when it was Nico or Lewis crashing and blaming each other
greatbigdong
Posts: 53
In fairness to Toto, he is protecting the strategists who Bottas accused of stuffing his race. I never hear a strategist come out and say "we could have won that if the driver didn't driver the car so slow". It would be unfair - just like its unfair for Bottas to blame them.
In reality, I don't think anyone could have predicted how badly the cars would destroy their tyres - no one else had problems like MB did.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
really, AJ? I used to agree, but that was pre-2017. He is, to put it nicely, far from the sportsman he look like at a first glance.