Wolff: Mercedes looked like idiots in Belgian GP qualifying

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has provided a scathing assessment of the team’s performance in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, saying they were made to look “like idiots”.

It has been one problem after another for the Silver Arrows this weekend, as Lewis Hamilton initially suffered engine issues in FP1, forcing a withdrawal, before crashing out completely in FP3 in the morning before qualifying.

The Brit’s engineers worked hard to make sure Hamilton could even make Q1, which he did, but their troubles weren’t over.

Both Hamilton and Bottas, in an attempt to gain slipstream pace, stayed within the pack of traffic in Q3 - while Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari simply bided their time and took advantage of the clear track to claim pole and P2.

Wolff, visibly frustrated at the result, was not happy after qualifying.

"It's not seven-tenths it's 1.3 seconds to Leclerc,2 he said of the gap from Mercedes to Ferrari.

“We knew it would be difficult - third and fourth was what we expected but the power is ridiculous on the Ferrari on these kinds of tracks.

"Today we tripped over our own feet, you want to do it extra perfect and you look like an idiot and this happened twice today.

However, he remains confident that the Silver Arrows can be a contender for the race win on Sunday, even if the qualifying performance remains a concern.

“There is everything to play tomorrow we have a strong race car, we know they (Ferrari) have suffered in the races, and they have the temperature advantage as it's going to be colder tomorrow,” he assured.

“I'm still upset about today."

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