Toto Wolff says it was always a catch-up game for Mercedes over Hungarian Grand Prix weekend

Mercedes were on the back foot performance-wise from the world go in Hungary, with Antonelli not matching the Ferraris and McLarens while George Russell was further down on pace.

Another Mercedes power unit issue meant Russell bogged down on the start, dropping to 18th, while he also had a water leak issue in Qualifying, which casts doubts on whether that unit can be reused—a penalty will be on the cards if not.

Speaking of Russell's issue at the start, Wolff revealed: “As it seems, another problem that happened to George, it looks like he gave about 10% throttle and the whole thing revved maximum.

“He went off the throttle, and it popped down, so I'm really not happy about too many mistakes that happened. So that was the reason, and then he drove very well. He went through the traffic easy and then recovered, I think, the maximum points that he could have recovered.”

And while that incident stood out, Wolff admitted that Mercedes' overall weekend was underwhelming; he added: “I think the whole weekend we didn't… it wasn't great.

"Missing FP1 [Fred Vesti took over Antonelli's car] certainly was not perfect. We got the set-ups not 100% right, and it was always a catch-up game that we had all weekend, and then going back yesterday in the Quali, George's engine problem.

“So, if you would have told me before the race that we can have a podium with Kimi, I would have said, 'I'll take it immediately.' But now you're looking back, the prevailing feeling is that we should have done better."

Mercedes had pitted Antonelli just before Oscar Piastri's McLaren broke down with gearbox issues bringing out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC).

Wolff reflected: “We were unlucky with the VSC again; that could have been a P2 [for Antonelli]. If we would have had a fault-free week, I think we would have fought for the victory or at least two cars on the podium.

“You can't fault the drivers today. Kimi's defense on the hard against Lewis [Hamilton] on the Soft was brilliant driving. And the same with George. I think he cleared 10 cars at the beginning, through the traffic, when we knew it was going to be very difficult.

"So, drivers today were really doing a good job," the Austrian concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier from the Hungaroring)