Toto Wolff says Mercedes qualifying effort in Abu Dhabi ‘one for the toilet’

Toto Wolff came up with a unique way to describe Mercedes' disappointing performance in qualifying for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

After finishing one-two in Sao Paulo only last weekend, with George Russell leading Lewis Hamilton home, the Silver Arrows are on the back foot at the Yas Marina Circuit. As world champion Max Verstappen took pole position ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, Mercedes had to settle for fifth and sixth behind the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Both Mercedes were more than six-tenths of a second shy of Verstappen’s pace-setting time and just a couple of tenths clear of Lando Norris’s Mercedes in seventh.

READ MORE: Sebastian Vettel blasts ‘these people’ Red Bull during final F1 qualifying session

Worryingly for Mercedes, Hamilton, who will start fifth, also revealed the car had incurred the bouncing problem which blighted the team over the first half of the season.

Wolff summed up a dispiriting day by pointing out November 19 is ‘World Toilet Day’

“Today is World Toilet Day and that is one to put in the toilet,” he told Sky Sports. “We just didn’t get the job done. We went backwards, they [Ferrari] did a little step forward. We went for a high downforce, high drag concept and were just so slow on the straight.”

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Wolff is hopeful of better in the race, adding: “We had the belief that for tomorrow it is so much better, that more downforce will protect the tyres.”

World Toilet Day celebrates toilets and raises awareness of the 3.6billion people living with poor quality toilets, which can damage both their health and their environment.

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