Mercedes hoping to look 'forwards not backwards' after disappointing qualifying in Abu Dhabi GP

Mercedes could only secure a third-row start in qualifying at the Abu Dhabi GP on Saturday.

The team appeared to have a strong car all weekend and was close to the top of the standings for large swathes, but in qualifying, they dropped behind Red Bull and Ferrari.

Talking to the media, Andrew Shovlin from Mercedes said that the team had hoped for a better outcome.

It appears that Mercedes set up the car for the race because of which the one-lap pace suffered significantly. Shovlin said:

"We had a solid FP3, looking like we were sitting between the Red Bulls and Ferraris on single lap pace so it's disappointing to end up 5th and 6th. Through the weekend, it has felt like we are at our best on the hot track and struggling to find the grip in the cooler evening conditions."

He continued:

"The decisions we made with the car setup are biased towards race pace, and on a long run everything is running hotter anyway, so we're still hopeful that we can have a race where we are looking forwards not backwards, but a third row start for both cars means we have our work cut out if we are to challenge at the front."

Lewis Hamilton admitted afterwards that Mercedes were expecting a difficult race in Abu Dhabi, but finishing too far behind Red Bull and Ferrari was 'surprising'. He said:

"We came here expecting this to be a difficult one for us, but we didn't expect a gap of eight tenths to pole position. We were losing six tenths today on the straights to the top cars. I gave it everything, so it's a bit of a surprising result and just being so far behind Red Bull and Ferrari."

He continued:

"Hopefully our race pace tomorrow will be better than our qualifying pace today. There's also some bouncing at this track, which adds to our lack of performance and issues with temperature splits on the brakes, which we've experienced throughout the whole season. The whole team is working hard, and they're doing an incredible job to fix these issues, especially also for next year. I'm looking to tomorrow and the final race of the season!"

---

We have a better car for the race - Mercedes boss

Team boss Toto Wolff echoed Shovlin's comments that the focus was on a high downforce setup in qualifying, which means Mercedes should fare better in the race.

The Mercedes boss hopes for a better result during the race than in qualifying as the team tries to recover positions. Talking to Sky Sports, he said:

“I just heard today is World Toilet Day. I think that’s one to put in the toilet. We didn’t get the job done. I think we went backwards and they (Ferrari and Red Bull) took a little step forward."

He continued:

"We went on a high downforce, high drag concept to have a good race car tomorrow, and that was just so slow on the straights it didn’t give anything. We have to believe that for tomorrow, it’s so much better to have more downforce to protect the tyres. Let’s see.”

Mercedes will hope to back up their 1-2 finish in Sao Paulo with another strong result in the last race of the season.