At Suzuka, Mercedes endured another disappointing weekend, in which George Russell finished seventh and Lewis Hamilton ninth – reversing their respective qualifying positions in a train behind Fernando Alonso.
According to team boss Wolff, Mercedes' rough qualifying was compounded by an "atrocious" first stint as the Silver Arrows initially attempted a bold one-stopper, which unlike Ferrari's Charles Leclerc they had to abandon in favour of a more conventional two-stop race.
“We ended up where we started and it was just very difficult,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “We had a second and third stint that were super quick and we would’ve been racing for a podium but [for] an atrocious first stint.
Expanding on his comments later on, he said: "We were very quick through the Esses, whereas last year we were nowhere.
"We were trying to make a one-stop stick, probably over-managed the tyres and had an atrocious first stint but a very competitive second and third stint the moment we basically did what the others did, and that would have looked completely different."
Source: Autosport