Mercedes had looked on course for a decent result in the sprint shootout session at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday after Lewis Hamilton was fastest overall following the first run in SQ3.
But his hopes of turning that form into a pole position for the sprint were derailed after he and team-mate George Russell tripped over each other.
Hamilton ended up starting his final lap right behind Russell, who locked up at La Source and then lost momentum for the charge up through Eau Rouge – effectively meaning both of their laps were ruined.
Afterwards, as their incident left the door open for rivals to grab the top grid slots, both drivers admitted it had been far from ideal.
Russell said “it was a total mess” while Hamilton was left ruing what he felt had been a good shot at grabbing a front row slot.
Reflecting on the errors that were made, which have come after similar miscommunication in handling the timing of qualifying runs at the Spanish and Austrian Grands Prix, team boss Wolff said Mercedes needed to improve.
“When you see that he [Hamilton] was leading the pack before that last lap, it is clearly a problem for all of us,” he said.
“It's not that he's missed out on pole or a front row, but it is that the team has missed out on it, and it is all of us together.
Source: Autosport