‘He’s gone’ – Mercedes’ blunt prediction with ’12kph’ deficit revealed

Max Verstappen speaking to George Russell

Formula 1 may as well hand Max Verstappen the winner’s trophy for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix such is his “huge” advantage over the chasing pack.

Although Saturday’s qualifying at the Red Bull Ring began with the closest contested Q1 session in F1 history with the 20 drivers separated by less than eight-tenths of a second, it ended with a dominant pole position for Verstappen.

Mercedes have a ’12kph’ deficit to Max Verstappen

Hot on the heels of his Sprint victory, the Red Bull driver claimed pole position for the Grand Prix with a 1:04.314 which put him four-tenths ahead of second-placed Lando Norris.

George Russell, the pole-sitter at the Canadian Grand Prix, was next in line having finished a tenth down on the McLaren driver.

But while a podium could yet be on the cards for the Mercedes driver in Sunday’s 71-lap race, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes the victory is Verstappen’s.

“Max is driving in another hemisphere,” the Austrian told Sky Sports, adding “He’s gone.

“The gap to him is huge, and that on a circuit with a lap time of just one minute. I think the order will probably remain the same.

“We lose 12kph compared to Verstappen, then of course you can’t achieve anything. But I think it’s really just a downforce problem. We don’t have enough downforce here in the fast corners.”

Russell will line up third on the grid with Lewis Hamilton P5, 0.06s slower than his team-mate.

Wolff added: “Once again, you have to control your expectations.”

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Wolff’s comments come on the back of Hamilton’s assessment that Mercedes may not win a Grand Prix this season such is Verstappen’s pace.

“We just don’t have enough downforce. That’s all we [sic] got,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com. “I don’t know the answer. Honestly, I don’t know the answer.

“If I could take a piece of downforce and chuck it on the back, I would, but that’s not how it goes. We’re just going to continue to work on improvement.

“But the notion of us potentially winning a race this year, when you get a half-a-second gap like today, makes it a little bit further down the road, but we’ve got to keep pushing.”

Ziggo Sport pundit Robert Doornbos called Verstappen’s qualifying advantage “unprecedented” with the Dutchman vying for a fifth Austrian GP victory on Sunday.

“This is unprecedented,” said the former F1 driver. “This circuit is only 4.3 kilometers long. You actually only have seven fast corners, and you have the new track limits. It’s not really that exciting, you would say.

“To be four-tenths, or half a second, ahead of number two, that has never been seen here before, or perhaps a very long time ago.”