Mercedes boss Wolff ‘annoyed’ at Mexican GP despite Russell apology

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admits that he is ‘annoyed’ neither George Russell nor Lewis Hamilton managed to snatch pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday. Time is running out for the Silver Arrows to notch what’s proven to be an elusive win in 2022, but Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez appears to suit their car down to the ground. Mercedes introduced an upgrade in the United States last weekend but, according to the drivers, Circuit of the Americas didn’t have the right characteristics to show what the new and improved car was made of. Many in the Silver Arrows garage had their sights set on the trip south to Mexico instead. Strong showings in practice were backed up by promising signs in Saturday’s early qualifying sessions. Hamilton took top spot in Q1 and Q2 with Mercedes shooting for what would have been a first pole position of the season. But double world champion Max Verstappen pulled out a superb lap in Q3, when it mattered most, to put himself three tenths beyond both Russell and Hamilton. DON’T MISS: Martin Brundle makes Toto Wolff prediction with Horner ‘on the ropes’ after FIA debacle Toto Wolff suggested that Mercedes missed an opportunity in Mexico (Image: GETTY)Russell looked to be on a flyer with Q3 drawing to a close but he abandoned his lap at the death after exceeding track limits. The 24-year-old was hugely apologetic over the team radio but Wolff is among those to realise that closing out P2 and P3, no matter how strong, constitutes a missed opportunity. When asked if Mexico represents Mercedes’ best chance of scooping up a win in 2022, Wolff responded: “I think so. The good thing is that, in our simulations, we had [this track] on the radar as being the best race, so that is good that the virtual world correlates with the real world. Lewis Hamilton will start behind Max Verstappen and George Russell on Sunday (Image: GETTY)”I feel like it was our pole to have but it was just a terrible lap from my side,” Russell told Sky Sports. “But it’s great to be back on the front row. I’ll be going for it at the start tomorrow for sure. Let’s see what’s possible. In Q3, my last lap, I went around the first three corners and the car felt great.”I had this thought like, ‘you know what, this is going to be the lap’ and I lost the car in the next corner. So I was bitterly disappointed. I lost two-tenths in one corner, I then gained it all back again and I was still one-and-a-half tenths up before I locked up in sector three.”