Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff says Ferrari took “a step back” at the Italian Grand Prix, adding that something was “out of sync”.
Ferrari was adrift of Mercedes during long-run simulation in practice at Monza and struggled in Saturday’s wet qualifying, finishing only seventh and eighth fastest, before trailing its rivals in the race.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas took a dominant 1-2 victory for Mercedes, in front of Ferrari’s home crowd, while Sebastian Vettel was a distant third, half a minute behind.
“For me, it looks like this weekend Ferrari has made a step back, somehow,” Wolff said. “I think we were very solid, but they haven't performed in the way everybody expected.
"Red Bull started from the back of the grid, almost finishing in P3. There's just something that is out of sync here, something is not how it should be, so I can understand [if] they're upset about it.
"This morning, based on the Friday long runs, we thought they would be closer, considering their Spa performance. I cannot tell you what the gap was but certainly 30 plus seconds is something that is an outlier."
Wolff also praised the turnaround by the Mercedes team after a tough Hungarian GP and a more competitive showing than expected from Ferrari during the preceding event in Belgium.
“I think that the job the guys did analysing the deficit that we had in Spa was very awesome. Straight from the get-go [at Monza] we had a car that was really solid, and good to drive.
"During yesterday's qualifying, there were so many opportunities to make a mistake and the car was good from the get-go – lots of grip, a good margin.
"It was the same today [Sunday]. We proved that we have recovered well from Budapest and also in a certain sense from Spa, and are progressing with the car."
