Toto Wolff pinpoints “atrocious” Japanese GP issue that derailed Mercedes

Toto Wolff believes Mercedes could have been on for a podium finish without “an atrocious first stint” at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix.

Mercedes opted for a bold tyre strategy following an early red flag by switching Lewis Hamilton and George Russell onto the hard compound in an attempted one-stop.

But the team were ultimately forced to convert to a conventional two-stop and Russell could only finish seventh, two places ahead of Hamilton in ninth.

"We ended up where we started and it was just very difficult," Mercedes team principal Wolff told Sky F1.

"We had a second and third stint that was super quick and we would've been racing for a podium but an atrocious first stint.

"We need to find out what it was, was it too hot, were we over-managing?

"I think it was the right thing to do at the beginning because it looked pretty stable in terms of lap times.

"They were not pulling away too much, the direct competitors, but then it suddenly dropped like two seconds a lap and two and a half second per lap. In that moment it was clear it wouldn't last.”

Although a frustrated Hamilton had called for Mercedes to “change the strategy” during the race, afterwards he admitted it would have made little difference.

"I don't know what the different strategy would've been, whether we stayed on the medium to start, but we still had two really terrible hard tyres to run through," the seven-time world champion said.

"The hard tyre was pretty bad, as I said, but the medium tyre was better. In hindsight, it looks like we should have had two medium tyres. But in general, the car was pretty bad today.”

Despite another disappointing race, Wolff is taking the positives from the weekend and insists Mercedes are going in the right direction.

“It’s better than it looks with the final result,” he said. “Also, in qualifying, there is lots that we have learned. It will get better from here.

"We need to be quick on all circuits. There is no excuse on temperature or track layouts. We need to sort it out.

“That’s why I said this is live testing for us. We’ve changed things massively. The car is becoming quicker.”