Mercedes reveal “12kph” deficit to Red Bull with Max Verstappen “in another hemisphere”

Toto Wolff says Mercedes are facing a “12kph” deficit to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as he ruled out a challenge for victory at the F1 Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen claimed a dominant pole position from McLaren’s Lando Norris in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday, while George Russell was the fastest Mercedes driver in third, some half a second adrift.

Following qualifying, Wolff revealed the extent of Mercedes’ deficit to Verstappen in Austria.

“Max is driving in another hemisphere. He’s gone.” Wolff told Sky Sports F1.

“The gap to him is huge, and that on a circuit with a lap time of just one minute. I think the order will probably remain the same.

“We lose 12kph compared to Verstappen, then of course you can’t achieve anything.

“But I think it’s really just a downforce problem. We don’t have enough downforce here in the fast corners.”

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth, with Carlos Sainz putting his Ferrari between the two Mercedes.

Hamilton admitted after qualifying that Verstappen’s significant advantage might force Mercedes to reassess their hopes of winning a race this year.

“We just don’t have enough downforce. That’s all we got,” Hamilton explained. “I don’t know the answer. Honestly, I don’t know the answer.

“If I could take a piece of downforce and chuck it on the back, I would, but that’s not how it goes. We’re just going to continue to work on improvement.

“But the notion of us potentially winning a race this year, when you get a half-a-second gap like today, makes it a little bit further down the road, but we’ve got to keep pushing.”

Meanwhile, Russell also downplayed his chances of fighting for the win in Sunday’s grand prix.

“I think it’s a bit more challenging here,” Russell said when asked if he could challenge at the front as he did last week in Barcelona.

“I think these guys always get their elbows out. So maybe this time it’s, you know, sit back and watch it all take place.

“But I think, you know, last week I lost a lot of time battling with Lando and probably focused too much on the guys ahead of me and ultimately that cost me the position to Lewis and almost to Charles as well.”