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Mercedes manager, Toto Wolff, admitted that he had been somewhat concerned about Ferrari's debut during Saturday's qualifying session at Silverstone, and that he had been surprised by the turn of events. .
After setting the pace in the last few tries, the two Ferraris began qualifying on the slowest compound in the first quarter. Still, Charles Leclerc was still able to take second place 0.02 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton on the soft tires.
In the second round, Leclerc switched to the soft compound and was fastest, beating Valtteri Bottas by 0.126.
Wolff was worried that the Silver Arrows might not have the pace to defend against the Ferrari challenge in the third quarter. However, in the end, Mercedes managed to block another lock-out at the front row for the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
"That's good, it was a little surprising because we were in the back throughout the qualifying session and we expected Ferrari to be strong," Wolff said. Sky Sports F1 & # 39;Ted Kravitz after.
"But finally, in the third quarter, they fell back and we made progress," he added. "The grip has gone up, the whole car has gotten hot, and I think it has made everything move towards us."
The last time, Mercedes had difficulties in the heat of Spielberg, but this time – in summer much cooler in England – it is not a problem for Wolff.
"Heat the cars, if it heats properly, then that's fine!" he's laughing.
The team's technical director, James Allison, explained what he thought would have happened Saturday afternoon, in heavy rain and rain conditions, as the air temperature only began to rise towards the end of the day. qualifications.
"Just like yesterday, it was a tough old day and we were trying to find a little elusive lap time from the start," Allison said.
"Like yesterday, our opponent looked very threatening on one lap and Ferrari was perhaps the favorite for qualifying.
"It has not been easy to get the best of the tires on a track that loads them both in fast bends and then cools them pretty fast in cold weather," he said. "It made life very difficult this weekend.
"But in the end, in the third quarter, both drivers managed to find the pace and Valtteri took a well deserved pole."
Wolff said he was not particularly surprised to see Bottas grabbing a few of Hamilton's pole at six-thousandths of a second.
"In the first round, Valtteri had a fantastic lap and Lewis made a small mistake," he said. "In the second set, Valtteri could not improve, but Lewis went almost identical to Valtteri's.
"It's the little things that made the difference in the end."
Attention is now turning to Sunday's race, which will see both Mercedes cars wearing slower but more durable average tires for the start of the race, while Ferrari will choose to start on soft compound.
"The average tires will be a few less competitive meters from the starting line," admitted Wolff. "Let's hope that afterwards, they will be more robust and we will be able to reach the pace of the race that we saw on Friday.
"We are hoping for an exciting race tomorrow!"
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