Wolff refuses to blame upgrade on Russell’s struggles: ‘We must wait to see…’

In the opening five rounds, Russell led Hamilton 4-1 in the qualifying head-to-head, while it was 2-2 on race day.

Since Monaco, Hamilton has only been out-qualified by Russell on one occasion, while the Austrian Grand Prix was the only time he finished behind (due to a penalty for track limits).

It’s been a remarkable shift in momentum at Mercedes, particularly as Russell managed to out-score Hamilton points-wise in the championship.

Speaking after Friday practice at the Dutch Grand Prix, Wolff explained why he doesn’t want to assess Russell’s struggles until after Singapore.

“I think we must wait to [see] how this pans out and we have more data points,” he told Sky. “This race and Monza, maybe Singapore, three totally different tracks and see whether there was a shift because of the update we introduced.”

Russell struggled again for one-lap pace relative to Hamilton in FP2, nearly four-tenths between the two Brits.

“I think on the first run this afternoon with the harder compound, the medium they used, he [Russell] was very competitive and then putting on the soft it wasn’t any more,” Wolff added. “I wouldn’t make too much of this today. I think tomorrow we will see.”

Wolff also revealed Mercedes are putting greater “emphasis on the race” rather than their qualifying performance.

“We made a big improvement from Friday to Saturday last year which we’re not 100 per cent sure we understand yet but the car was competitive,” he explained.

“I think putting an emphasis on the race, like we did now, makes more sense than just chasing the pole position.”