Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has pinned Mercedes' lack of pace on the tyres after failing to beat Ferrari in qualifying for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.
After a strong run in Q2 to start the race on the soft tyre, when it came to both runs on the Ultrasoft tyres in Q3 Mercedes was unable to extract the maximum potential of the W09 to beat Ferrari's on raw pace.
Historically the Silver Arrows have often struggled on softer compounds compared to its pace on some of Pirelli's other tyres.
"They've [Ferrari] been really strong all day," said Wolff to Sky Sports. "Their qualifying performance they put one on top and we really have something to think about.
"It's tricky. We are lacking grip. You can fall out of the window by the tyres getting too hot or being too cold. It's two extremes like we had in Bahrain. I think it's a tyre issue."
With Mercedes' pace often stronger on the harder compounds of tyres, the lack of pace seen in qualifying could be negated over the race distance of 56 laps.
A tight battle of strategies between both of the top teams is set to define the race with Red Bull still threatening after showed good race pace in Friday's practice sessions; both Ferrari and Mercedes opted to complete Q2 on the Soft tyres, meaning they will start the race on the yellow-banded rubber.
Sunday's race is due to be a lot warmer than the colder temperatures experienced so far over the weekend, Wolff believes if the warmer weather does materialise on race day, the set-ups on both cars will help ensure they can take the fight to the Ferraris.
"Tomorrow is expected to be a lot warmer so I hope we have done the right thing set-up-wise and we have better pace in the race than Ferrari," added the Austrian.
"There is not a lot of strategic plays either. If we have pace then we can under-cut or over-cut."
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