Toto Wolff feels that Mercedes should have out-qualified Fernando Alonso in the Formula 1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in a disappointing day for the team. Throughout testing and practice, Mercedes looked adrift of Red Bull and the Aston Martin of Alonso, but under the lights in Sakhir, both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were on the pace. In Q3, both Mercedes were limited to just one run at the end, with Russell sixth, Hamilton seventh and Alonso ahead of them in fifth. Speaking after the session, Wolff believed getting both cars ahead of the Aston was possible.
"They both didn't have clean laps," Wolff explained to Sky Sports F1 of the Q3 efforts from both drivers. "There was probably still a tenth-and-a-half still in there, but it wouldn't changed [our positions]. "Maybe we could have overtaken Alonso with both cars, but this is where we are. "We didn't run the second time [in Q3], and it was maybe around four-tenths, but these are irrelevant calculations. "That is the gap, and that is what we need to find - and more - if we want to win. "The gap is not ridiculous, considering we only ran [once] at the end, but it is not where we want to be. "We are continuing to develop the concept and thinking that we could land it and fight for a couple of [higher positions], but it wasn't the case today."
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