Wolff 'doubts' Ferrari showing true potential in practice

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff reckons that Ferrari are holding back in their performance in the free practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix, believing that the two outfits are still "neck and neck" in terms of power heading to qualifying on Saturday.

During Friday's practice in Suzuka, Mercedes finished with a 1-2 through Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas - a full second ahead of their rivals from Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

However, Wolff thinks this result is not representative of the Prancing Horse's true power.

“They turned down [the engines] a bit,” Wolff told Sky Sports in regards to Ferrari, with the Mercedes boss saying the timings "flattered" his team.

“We are actually losing a bit through the Esses, the fast corners. I think probably the lap time flatters us a little bit but we’ll see how it is in qualifying tomorrow.

“In the morning they were quicker through almost every corner but they had a softer tyre. When we have both the softer tyre, we are gaining a little bit in a straight line and that makes me really doubt whether they’ve shown the whole performance.

“Through the Esses they are a bit quicker and the rest is us, so it’s neck and neck even though the lap time seems to show a larger gap.”

Oh, Suzuka... ?????????? It’s so good to be back!#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CwxNUy509L — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 5 October 2018

Mercedes lead Ferrari in both the constructors' and drivers' championships, but Wolff refuses to allow complacency to creep in, and used the 2007 world title race as an example of why the team needs to keep focused.

“In 2007, Lewis had the equivalent of 45 points advantage with two races to go and lost by one points,” he continued.

"So we are far from having it in the bag.”

Hamilton was making his debut season in 2007, but was pipped to the championship by Raikkonen.

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