Mercedes still wary of Red Bull threat at Suzuka
Toto Wolff says that Mercedes is still wary of the threat from Red Bull in the Japanese GP, despite the world champion safely securing the front row.
Photo by: XPB Images
Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth and sixth, while Sebastian Vettel's Malaysian GP penalty has given both men a boost, with only Kimi Raikkonen splitting them from the Mercedes duo ahead.
Wolff is adamant that it will not be a straightforward run for his drivers in what is now likely to be a dry race.
"I wouldn't say that," he told Motorsport.com. "Because Sebastian goes back three places, and the long runs of Red Bull were pretty impressive.
"You need to win the start, you need to come around the Esses properly [on the first lap], and you need to finish the race. So there are plenty of variable still.
"The opportunities for Lewis to outscore Nico are getting difficult, but still you need to finish the race. Lewis was very unlucky with reliability issues, and it was a little bit easier for Nico this year. But it's five races to go and you need to finish them first."
Nico Rosberg has been quicker than Lewis Hamilton all weekend, with the exception of the first runs in Q3, when the German's engineers tried something that didn't work out.
When they took a step back he bit Hamilton on the final runs by the tiniest of margins.
"It was very close, and on the second last run wasn't perfect for Nico, how they put the car. Then they went back, and it was really good. They changed a bit, they looked at a couple of things, I don't know the details, and then they went back to what they knew.
"We see this interesting pattern. Last weekend it was Lewis's dominance, and he was almost unbeatable, and before in Singapore it was Nico again.
"I have no explanation, but it's definitely positive for the team, because they keep pushing each other to new levels."
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