MELBOURNE, Australia -- Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his team lost Sunday's Australian Grand Prix to Ferrari due to a lack of pace, not because of its strategy calls.
Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton to victory in Australia by 9.9s after taking the lead during the pit-stops midway through the race. Mercedes appeared to make the wrong call when it brought Hamilton in for a relatively early tyre change on lap 17 and delivered him back onto the track behind Max Verstappen's Red Bull.
Although Hamilton used his new tyres to set quicker lap times than Vettel initially -- known as getting an undercut -- the time he then lost behind Verstappen ultimately allowed Vettel to pit six laps later and come out in front.