A roll stand of a rolling mill is supplied with a metal strip by an upstream supply device at an in-feed speed (v), with said metal strip being rolled in the roll stand. A measuring device between the supply device and the roll stand detects a respective thickness value (d) of the metal strip for consecutive sections of the metal strip and supplies said value to a control device of the rolling mill. The control device determines final thickness deviations based on the preliminary thickness deviations. The control device determines a respective control value (A2, A3) for the roll stand and/or the supply device for the sections of the metal strip based on the final thickness deviation of the respective section of the metal strip and the final thickness deviations of multiple preceding and/or subsequent sections of the metal strip.