Toto Wolff: Red Bull Handed Mercedes ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card’ in F1 Title Fight

Red Bull could have taken the lead in the constructor’s championship, but only Max Verstappen manage to earn points. Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff has stated it was a huge relief to see their rivals not take advantage of their mistakes at Imola.

The Brackley-based squad had a rollercoaster of emotions, as Bottas was out due to a crash. And later things didn’t look good when Hamilton went off track and lost several places, but were happy that he could manage to get P2.

The Silver Arrows still lead both championships and hope mistakes like this don’t occur again. Mercedes would hope to bring more points in the upcoming weekend in Portugal.

Toto Wolff glad Red Bull didn’t take more points at Imola

As quoted by TheRace, he said, “There were so many ups and downs and there were a few moments where it felt like we wouldn’t score any points at all. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, from the disappointment of Valtteri’s scary accident.”

To the thrill of Lewis’ recovery drive [after Hamilton went off and fell a lap down but was given a reprieve by the mid-race red flag for Bottas’s crash].

“To come away leading both championships almost felt like a get out of jail free card, because our rivals didn’t maximise the opportunity we gave them,” Wolff concluded.

Wolff believes that Mercedes still needs a better power unit to match their rivals

The Brackley-based team are the most dominating team on the grid. However, they have seen the pace of their rivals from Milton-Keynes and would like to match them in to get better qualifying results. Hence, they would aim to develop an engine that could defeat their rivals.

Wolff said, “We are still having a deficit with the car. We ended up on pole, but if Max puts in a clean lap, we’re probably two-and-a-half tenths behind, maybe three. And that is simply what the pecking order is at the moment.”

“We’re slowly starting to understand it. But according to the paper, we’re still not having a car and power unit that can match the Red Bull-Honda,” the Austrian boss concluded.

The team is off to Portugal for the third round of the championship. They would aim to see both Hamilton and Bottas cross the finish line and bring home some crucial points that will help in their hunt for the championship.

Read More: ‘Collateral Damage’: Toto Wolff Understands Why Aston Martin is Going Nuts Over F1 Rule Change

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