Toto Wolff said Mercedes were “struggling left, right and centre” before George Russell’s lap gave them second in qualifying.

The Mercedes boss was braced for a disappointing result in Shanghai as they struggled to get the tyres in the right window but Russell’s last lap heroics bailed them out.

Toto Wolff makes Mercedes assessment after China quali

With rookie Kimi Antonelli struggling to put together a clean lap, the onus fell on Russell who has stepped up to the team leader role following Lewis Hamilton’s departure to Ferrari.

As the cars began their return to the pits following the chequered flag, Russell split the two McLarens meaning he will start on the front row on Sunday, a result that surprised even his team boss.

“[We were] struggling left, right and centre, getting the tyres in the right window,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “And finally, on his ultimate lap, he just got it super right.

“I think it was good teamwork. Then his lap, he’s able to put it together like he did and that’s the result.”

Qualifying showed how varied the grid can be from a Red Bull being dead last to two Racing Bulls in the top 10. Wolff highlighted this, suggesting it was a “discovery mission” for everyone.

“I think it’s a science for everyone, you can see these fluctuations,” the Austrian said.

“Like the Ferraris were dominant yesterday and today they’re fifth and sixth. But it’s also so tight at the time so it’s a discovery mission.”

Russell said: “When we are able to bring it all together, we can definitely compete right at the front. I’m therefore really pleased that we were able to qualify P2 and will start on the front-row tomorrow.

“I don’t think anybody expected to be challenging the McLarens, but I don’t think they optimised what they had today. P3 would have been a good result, so P2 is a great result. I’m proud of the whole team and the job they’ve done.

“For the final lap in Q3, we tried a slightly different out-lap preparation. We’d been trying a few different things throughout the session but on that last lap it finally clicked. I think that was one of my best qualifying efforts of my career and it was really rewarding to come away with a good starting position for the race.

“Tomorrow is a new day, and the Grand Prix will be dictated by race pace. Hopefully, we can look after the tyres well, utilise the pace that is in the car, and come home with a strong result.

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Meanwhile, Antonelli missed out with a slight mistake seeing him lose time on his flying lap. Wolff believes without that, the young Italian would have been in the top six.

“For Kimi, he had good speed in Q3 but was unfortunate to lose time on his final lap in the last sector. Without that, he would have been challenging for the top six. Nevertheless, it is more valuable experience for him in what was his first Q3 appearance of his career.

“Tomorrow’s race is set up to be very interesting. We expect the McLarens to be strong whilst the Ferraris were the stand-out in this morning’s Sprint.

“Starting from P2, we will be looking to hold our own in the early stages and see where we net out. Nobody has run the Hard compound tyre yet so that is an unknown going into Sunday. Let’s see what we can do.”

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