George Russell qualified sixth, while Lewis Hamilton endured his worst-ever qualifying performance in the United States with 13th.
Arguably, sixth was a better result than expected for Mercedes given the timing of the red flag caused by Charles Leclerc meant that the likes of Max Verstappen couldn’t set a lap.
Speaking after qualifying in Miami, Wolff has frank with his assessment of the Mercedes W14.
“The car is not a nice car, not a good car,” Wolff said. “The basic performance of the car is the lack of understanding of the car.
“I would say the performance is just really bad, and for George and Lewis it just really went south. You could see in the first sector the car really wasn’t there.
“When things go bad they compound bad and this has happened for him [Hamilton] and for all of us as a team.
“I take no enjoyment from finishing sixth. It’s the lack of comprehension of what it is that makes this car such a nasty piece of work.”
It’s in stark contrast to Australia, where Russell and Hamilton qualified second and third respectively.
Wolff conceded that the handling of the Mercedes has actually got worse as the weekend has progressed.
“That is a very front-limited track and we put the car in its sweet spot,” he explained. “It performed well and got better over the weekend.
“It is the contrary of what has happened here in that it has gotten worse over the weekend.
“It’s such a narrow operating window that when it’s good, it’s okay. It can deliver a podium.
“If it’s bad, you’re P13, or P10 realistically, in terms of Lewis.”
