Mercedes boss Toto Wolff predicted Lando Norris could “disappear” during the race in Zandvoort as he bemoaned his team’s “underperformance.”

George Russell will start Sunday’s race from P4 while Lewis Hamilton struggled to a P12 which has not filled Wolff with optimism.

Toto Wolff highlights Mercedes’ Zandvoort ‘underperformance’

Mercedes entered the second portion of the season on the back of three wins from the past four, but that record looks unlikely to improve with the Silver Arrows unable to crack a top three made up of both the McLarens and Max Verstappen.

Hamilton in particular struggled to find the right window and Wolff admitted the car was “on a knife edge.”

“Really difficult to get it right,” he told Sky F1. “And then when you have a little bit of an overheating moment in a corner it’s hard to recover and I think that made it very difficult for most drivers.

More reaction from Zandvoort

“You can see that falling out in Q2 is really not good at all. But also P4 is an underperformance to what we hoped and what we have seen in the previous sessions.

“Pole was not on the cards [for Russell]. I think that was really, really a great lap. He’s just able to nurture the tyres through a single lap and this is very well deserved.”

As for their chances on Sunday, Wolff suggested that if Norris was able to get away well then he would “disappear.”

“Norris’ long run was also the best of all yesterday,” Wolff said of Norris who topped FP1. “So if he stays ahead, he could probably disappear in the distance.”