Toto Wolff claims every team other than Ferrari "all over the place"

Wolff, Mercedes, Australia — Photo: © LAT Images

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Wolff claims every team other than Ferrari "all over the place"

Lewis Hamilton was seven seconds off the pace in FP1

Ewan Gale

Friday 22 April 2022 15:25

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes every team other than Ferrari was "all over the place" in first practice for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc spun three times but recovered on each occasion before finishing at the head of a Scuderia one-two in front of the soaked Tifosi in treacherous conditions on F1's return to Imola.

Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished a lowly 18th and 10th respectively, with the former seven seconds adrift of the championship leader.

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Reviewing Mercedes' session, Wolff told Sky Sports F1 he was "not delighted", adding: "You can see there is nine seconds between first and last and it is all about getting grip into the tyre, temperatures.

"The Ferraris seem to have unlocked that thing, everybody else is pretty much all over the place."

Asked if he thought the wet weather would promote a more level playing field, Wolff replied: "Yeah, [I thought] it would.

"The feedback we are getting from Lewis and George is there is literally zero grip. These gaps are owing to the tyres."

Mercedes expect "jump" in qualifying

As it is F1's first sprint event of the season, qualifying follows on from first practice later on Friday.

With the team struggling and the order largely spread in the difficult conditions, Wolff suggested: "I think when you are able to unlock that issue, you will do a jump.

"Where that will end, I don't know. I think there will be quite some discrepancies in performance.

"We were five seconds off the pace and I don't know what it was. It was not the car and not the driver."