Wolff: At the beginning of the season, the factory teams have the advantage.

      This season, it has become common to see the picture where, at the end of a session, the top two spots on the protocol are occupied by Mercedes drivers. Sometimes George Russell outpaces his younger teammate, and sometimes Kimi Antonelli manages to show a higher speed.

      That was the case in the third practice session at the Japanese track in Suzuka – Kimi was the fastest, and the session results were commented on by Toto Wolff, the head of the Mercedes team, on Sky Sports.

      Toto Wolff: "We are a bit surprised by the team's excellent form! Of course, we often have to act by trial and error, but the car is working very well, and it seems that on this track we gain the most in the 'esses' of the first sector, and in the corners in general.

      It seems that in all corners our W17 has an advantage in downforce, I am very proud of this, and it is very pleasing to see for everyone working at our base in Brackley...

      However, George made a mistake on his lap in turn 14 – if it weren't for that, he would have been a bit faster. As for Kimi, he is driving more confidently with each race. And it's great that our drivers are competing against each other."

      Wolff was also asked about the situation with McLaren, as the championship team continues to face problems with the power units supplied by Mercedes. In theory, something similar could happen with the cars of the factory team of the Stuttgart concern.

      "I believe they had issues with the car yesterday when a leak was found in the hydraulic system, and today there was a malfunction of a different kind," Toto replied. "But sometimes one problem leads to another, that happens, and it's bad. We don't want that to happen with the cars of our customer teams.

      Of course, we are constantly learning, including analyzing all these problems, as the new technical regulations have only recently come into effect, and the likelihood of malfunctions remains. At the same time, it is clear that at the early stage of the season, the advantage will inevitably be with the factory teams, but after a while, everything will normalize by itself."

      In addition, the head of Mercedes commented on the recent appointment of Bradley Lord as his deputy, who had led the team's press service for many years: "There comes a moment when you realize that there is someone who is smarter than you, and you need to give them the opportunity to show themselves.

      My area of responsibility is expanding, as our company's turnover has almost reached a billion dollars – believe it or not. Therefore, I have to solve a lot of tasks, and Bradley will take some of this on himself. He is doing an excellent job, we complement each other well, and the team is happy that he is working with us."