Mercedes’s reign at the top came to an end a year ago when Red Bull was crowned as the constructors’ world champion. Since then, they have only been at the top, which Mercedes, for over a decade, was never used to. So now, Toto Wolff, as quoted by Autosport, has claimed that the Silver Arrows will chart the territories that they never had the need to seek because of their dominance.
Mercedes, during their domination, were nearly unbeatable. Thus, they never had to really master the pitstops. Even if they made a mistake where they were going massively slower than their counterparts, their pace on the track made up for it.
But now, that luxury will no longer apply. Mercedes, under the new regulations, are a shadow of their former self, so they would have to pivot.
Toto Wolff vows to make Mercedes better at pitstops
On Sunday, in Austin, Mercedes’s pitstops on Lewis Hamilton weren’t decent enough, as the time recorded on his two pitstops was 3.6 and 3.4 seconds, respectively. He lost to Max Verstappen by almost 2 seconds. Had the pitstops been a bit better, things could have been different, and that’s why Wolff thinks it’s important to have a look.
“Our mindset in the last 12 years, we don’t need to be world champions in pitstops,” said Wolff. “We need to avoid very slow pitstops. And it’s coming to a situation now where we realise that it has got so competitive, and we just need to ramp up our game up there,”
Needless to say, with Mercedes aiming to be within the fine margins of Red Bull next year, they have to upgrade their pitstop game against the very best in every department.
Red Bull: The masters of pitstop
Unlike Mercedes, Red Bull, despite their dominance, doesn’t believe in slipping their pitstop efficiency. They are still a team that consistently gives brilliant services to the drivers and optimizes their chances to win.
However, their world record of fastest pitstop, which was set in Brazil back in 2019, was broken by McLaren this year. Nonetheless, over the entirety of the year, the Milton-Keynes-based team has an edge over others.
So, if Mercedes has to reach Red Bull’s level, then good pitstops are a necessity. Provided Mercedes catch up with Red Bull’s pace, then several races can be decided on just one pitstop.
