Russell failure 'a total underperformance' by Mercedes - Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has delivered a damning indictment of his team following George Russell's failure to escape the first part of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Russell declared himself "angry" after a qualifying performance that was "a total disaster. In a wet-dry-wet session, Russell found himself without enough fuel to complete a final lap after Sergio Perez crashed, causing a red flag as a light rain shower cleared.  

The Briton, on pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone a fortnight ago, will start a wretched 17th at the Hungaroring on Sunday. He made clear "a proper sit down was required" to understand what followed.

Wolff pulled no punches with his own assessment, stating: "That was a very disappointing qualifying session for us.

"It was a total underperformance from all of us. Losing a car in Q1 is clearly not acceptable. George struggled to get in a solid lap earlier in the session and we didn't execute the final run at all.

"That stemmed from a lack of solid communication between ourselves and the driver. We need to ensure we learn from this so that it doesn't happen again."

Mercedes 'not joined up'

Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin further described the situation as "frustrating", confirming the team "didn't manage the session well".

He added: "We will review all the communications to understand how we can learn from our mistakes but ultimately, we weren't joined up and sent the car too early for the fuel we had in the tank."

Lewis Hamilton will start fifth, an additional disappointment given his victory at Silverstone and with the conditions playing into Mercedes' hands to a certain extent after the searing heat on Friday when it was apparent the W15 was struggling.

Wolff conceded the team was unable "to get on top of the tyre temperatures" which "cost us a few more tenths" and in a position now where "we need to dust ourselves down and come back stronger".

Shovlin additionally declared: "We've left ourselves with a fair bit of work to do. With Lewis, we'll be looking to see if we can get him into a position to fight for a podium. With George, we'll be looking for ways to get him back into the points and hopefully the upper reaches."