“I think he should have had the first lap in where Lewis went P1 – he said that was probably taken too easy,” the Team Principal added. “And then the other one, we put the fuel a lap too little in, but that was a different run plan.
“It was fast-slow-fast and he decided to do three fast laps. But overall, I think it’s 70% the team’s mistake on not fuelling him one lap more.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Relive qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix as Norris takes pole and Perez and Tsunoda crash out
Hamilton, meanwhile, went on to finish qualifying in P5. Asked if the seven-time world champion may have had an issue – having suggested at the start of the weekend that the car was only two-tenths off – Wolff explained: “No, I think probably the car could have been two-tenths off, but we were going up and down with tyre temperatures and it was tricky to kind of find the middle ground to give him a car that had grip.”
In terms of the drivers’ thoughts on the session, Russell was left blaming himself for his early error in Q1.
“To be in that position in the first place was on me,” the 26-year-old conceded. “I took it easy at the start of Q1 because we thought there was no more rain, so I thought the track was going to get quicker, suddenly it started raining and that lap one was crucial.
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