‘Bitter reality’: Mercedes’ Toto Wolff accepts Red Bull are in different F1 class

Max Verstappen (front left) beats Lewis Hamilton to the first corner at the Hungaroring, before cruising into the distance. Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock

The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has echoed the words of Lewis Hamilton in bluntly describing the “bitter reality” of their deficit to the Formula One championship leaders Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

After being comprehensively beaten again by Verstappen at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Wolff observed that at very best Mercedes might only be considered quick in a field of cars that excluded the Red Bulls. Verstappen won at the Hungaroring by almost 34 seconds from McLaren’s Lando Norris.