Wolff brands Singapore Grand Prix ‘a really painful, painful evening’ as he admits Mercedes just ‘too slow’

Toto Wolff watched his drivers slog their way round the Marina Bay Street Circuit on a hot and humid evening in Singapore, with George Russell finishing where he started in fourth and Lewis Hamilton dropping three places to come home sixth.

Hamilton’s slide down the order was the direct result of a bold strategy call to start the seven-time world champion on the soft compound tyre as opposed to the mediums favoured by the rest of the top 10 and the majority of the grid, and Wolff was quick to admit that his team didn’t get that one quite right.

“I think we’ve read the race wrong,” Wolff admitted. “We took a decision based on historic [data] that this race was basically a procession, Monaco-like and that the soft tyre would give [Hamilton] an opportunity at the start, basically the only overtaking opportunity.

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“And that was a decision that we all took together jointly, it felt like a good offset. But with the rear tyre deg we had, there was only one way and that was backwards. So, I think there was a logic behind it, but it was contrary to what we should have decided. But it doesn’t hide away from the fact that when the car is slow, you’re just slow.”

Hamilton’s early pit stop then saw him have to fight back through the midfield traffic, and left him unable to defend from Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, both of whom had fresher tyres with which to pass the Mercedes.

In the end Hamilton came home sixth, fortunate that Carlos Sainz behind had also pitted early and was unable to put any pressure onto Hamilton on equally worn rubber.

“It was a really painful, painful evening. And it’s not about when you look at the positions of fourth and sixth, that’s not good, especially when you start third and fourth.

“The car is just not – we struggle at the moment at tracks that are hot, and with our traction here and at Baku. But this is no excuse, I think it’s just at the moment what we expect from ourselves because if your quickest car is a minute behind the leader, it is just difficult to accept.”

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Neither Mercedes driver was able to go through their usual media duties in the aftermath of the race after suffering from what Wolff described as “borderline heat stroke”, but the Austrian was quick to reassure everyone that both Hamilton and Russell were “fine” and that an ice bath had solved their “overheating” issues.

The better news for Mercedes is that they have an upgrade arriving for Austin, and plenty of time before that race to analyse the data and work out how better to set up their car and extract some more pace from their package.

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Mercedes' pre-summer break form saw the team take three victories from four races, but it’s McLaren and Ferrari who have shared the plaudits between them since then, McLaren winning in Zandvoort, Baku and Singapore, as Charles Leclerc took a Monza victory for Ferrari.