Max Verstappen took pole position for the second week in a row after leading qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull and displacing title rival Lewis Hamilton by three hundredths of a second.
One of the main areas where Mercedes lost time to Red Bull was at Turn 2 and Turn 3 in the first sector, with the banked corner at Turn 3 challenging the drivers with several possible lines.
The team struggled through this section in practice on Friday and continued on Saturday in qualifying against Red Bull.
“It’s mainly the exit of 2, they’re a lot faster and especially 3 they’re a lot faster,” said Hamilton.
“We’re generally down, I think I was even there [final] I was told 0.18 seconds on the lap, so almost two tenths that we lose in this area.
“It’s hard to say exactly what it is, but there is something. A characteristic of our car that this curve doesn’t like. “
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said the team still had to find out what exactly made it so difficult at Turn 3.
“That is strange, because we are competitive on the rest of the route,” said Wolff.
“But our car doesn’t seem to be happy in the extreme lean angle of this slow corner.
“We haven’t found the answer yet.”
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On Sunday, title rivals Verstappen and Hamilton stand together on the front row for the first time since their collision at the start of the British Grand Prix in July.
However, Wolff felt it was wrong to fear that the clash might repeat itself and said that people “need to stop referring to the Silverstone incident” and that there is no need to speak to Hamilton about his approach to it first turns to speak.
“We will not discuss the strategy for Turn 1 and 2,” said Wolff.
“The drivers will discuss various games and play options with their respective engineers.
“But we don’t have to tell him how to drive or what’s at stake because he knows best. So we’re not going to address that. “
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