Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has admitted there's 'no excuse' for his team's poor showing at the Australian Grand Prix, which saw their two drivers qualify 11th and seventh for tomorrow's race.
Lewis Hamilton just missed out on Q3 during Saturday's dramatic qualifying session, with his W15 car losing as much as a second to the Ferraris on the straights.
The poor performance came after the Brackley-based outfit had looked strong in FP3, with both cars inside the top five.
For Hamilton, it represents a continuation of his poor start to the 2024 season, while the team in general appear to have gone backwards from being the second-quickest car in 2023.
Toto Wolff has overseen a poor start to 2024Lewis Hamilton performed miserably in qualifying
Wolff angered by 'difficult' W15
Mercedes have only managed one race victory since the 2021 season, and had hoped that their new W15 car would push them closer into contention for wins following a difficult first two seasons of the ground effect era.
However, the team look further off the pace than they were in 2022 and 2023, and that coupled with the clear improvement of Ferrari and McLaren has left them fourth in the constructors' championship, while Hamilton is only ninth in the drivers' standings.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying for the Australian GP, Wolff was visibly frustrated by the team's lack of progress.
“Yeah especially underwhelming as we were under a tenth in FP3, the conditions were a little bit different but there is no excuse," he said.
“I think we have a car that’s difficult and you can be narrowly in and out of the window and as annoyed as I am for saying this for a long time, we just continue, we just need to continue working on it and trying to get better.
“It’s not because of a lack of trying that we are where we are but it’s not good enough.”
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