Toto Wolff recently shared his perspective on the FIA’s choice to uphold Lando Norris’ pole-winning lap time, a decision that placed Lewis Hamilton alongside the McLaren driver on the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race.
Wolff weighed in on the FIA’s call regarding Norris’ lap time during the climactic moments of sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Had the initial ruling remained unchanged, Lewis Hamilton would have secured pole position for the sprint event. Nonetheless, Mercedes’ team principal ultimately believes that the correct decision was made, despite it coming at the expense of his team and driver.
“I haven’t seen the data, I’ve just seen he [Lando Norris] had four tyres off track,” Wolff explained in conversation with Sky Sports. “But honestly, that [lap] was even slower, so he probably could have gone faster – so I’m okay with that.”
Due to the consistent performance of Red Bull in qualifying this season and Ferrari’s impressive one-lap speed, the variable weather conditions at the Shanghai International Circuit led to an unexpected front-row appearance for both Mercedes and McLaren, a situation the 52-year-old commented on.
“I think, obviously, driving is most important in the wet, but it shows it’s about tyre preparation,” Wolff elucidated before appending: “We did the right thing on the final run. The tyres were in the sweet spot, combined with a great drive – that made the time.”
When considering the upcoming sprint race, Wolff acknowledges that although his team managed to outperform Red Bull in the weather-affected qualifying session, they are not on par with the reigning champions in dry conditions.
Max Verstappen will start directly behind Hamilton in fourth place, but the primary objective remains surpassing the McLaren of Norris.
“I think we should have the pace in the dry [to beat the McLaren]. I don’t think we have the pace against the Red Bulls, but we are, I think, against the McLarens,” stated the Austrian.
“But having said that, it’s also we don’t know, because we have no data from FP1. It could be they are much quicker too, or the other way around.”