Toto Wolff: "Something else is going on" after Bahrain qualifying troubles

Toto Wolff says Mercedes is facing problems it has not seen all season after its substantial Sepang upgrade failed to deliver the expected pace

Mercedes brought a substantial upgrade package to Sepang for the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix, and pace was supposed to be strong for the Silver Arrows. Kimi Antonelli teased something special after he topped FP3, but qualifying proved to be difficult. Toto Wolff believes there is "something else is going on" that is hindering his team's pace.

Championship leader Antonelli qualified on the second row in forth while George Russell will start a disappointing eighth (both drivers will move up one place after Isack Hadjar's grid penalty is applied). After what has been a mostly dominant season for Mercedes, this comes as a surprise to the team chief.

"Very difficult to understand," he told Sky Sports F1. "We have been a little bit caught out on Friday with some car behaviour that we didn't see all year. But you can say it's very hard that the tarmac is very different to all the tracks.

"Looks really good in the morning. You know, we seem to have at least with Kimi made a step in understanding again. Qualifying was a little bit back to what we saw before, just no performance."

He was further pressed on what car behaviour he meant.

"It looks like we are very draggy, because it's the first time that we're losing a lot of time on the straights to especially Max [Verstappen]. And then through the low speed. Turn 2, we are not able to turn the car. There's just too much understeer. So overall things we haven't seen all year."

Toto Wolff, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Mercedes machinery has been a very efficient on power-centric circuits this season, with the W17 boasting a strong power unit and impressive straight line performance. For this reason, fingers are being pointed at the upgrade package.

"Something else is going on. And we have to understand. This is now working through the data and putting our heads together because we still believe that the upgrade works. We just need to understand why not here."

The abrasive track surface and the heat could also be contributing factors, but the scale of this lack of pace is what worries the Austrian.

"It's so different, but nevertheless, in any case you're expecting three-tenths to kick in and it looks like three or four or five-tenths backwards first time we miss out on the top three by the track. So hard, but I guess we will find the solution."

With tyre degradation being another weakness felt by the silver team this race weekend, this could be a tough race for its drivers.

"No, I'm never positive," Wolff answered when asked if Sunday's race pace might look better than these qualifying results suggest. "Even if you would have put it on pole with five-tenths, I wouldn't have been exuberant for tomorrow.

"I don't know at all what to expect tomorrow from the race with the heat. It could be better, it could be worse. This is now about understanding what the car is doing."