Wolff: 'Mercedes falling behind partly due to better 'derating' Honda engine'.

Mercedes fell nearly four tenths short of Max Verstappen in qualifying with Lewis Hamilton. Much of that time is lost in the corners, but Toto Wolff explains that Honda' s work has also contributed to Red Bull Racing 's lead.

“Honda has done a great job,” Wolff said to Motorsport.com. “They delivered the power unit which is extremely competitive. Look at where AlphaTauri is. And we just have to take it as sportsmen."

According to Wolff, the reason Honda is so competitive compared to Mercedes is because his team loses time in 'derating'. That is the moment when the electric motors give up at the end of the straight to save energy for the next boost. So the Honda engine operates at full power for a full lap longer.

"Am I surprised? No I'm actually not at all surprised. I think Honda is a very proud company and I was convinced that they would give all the power to have a great power unit in the final year as a works team. I think they left no stone unturned, and no resource unutilised to finish the job properly", said the Austrian.