“Doesn’t mean that we have no weapons in our armoury left” – Mercedes boss Toto Wolff not losing all hope in their title defence vs Red Bull.
Toto Wolff has confirmed there won’t be any more car developments this season, as they shift the focus on the 2022 car. He believes the upgrades wouldn’t be enough to recover the deficit from the aerodynamic regulations introduced this season.
🗣️ Toto Wolff to SkyF1: “This is the first race, really, in eight years where we are just lacking the pace.
“We have stopped developing this year because we believe for the next years it is so important to get it right.”#F1 #Formula1 #StyrianGP 🇦🇹
— Autosport (@autosport) June 27, 2021
But he is refusing to surrender, suggesting Mercedes will improve in the races to come. He also believes Red Bull will have to stop their own developments sometime, and that could be the turning point. Mercedes are currently on a four-race winless run, their longest in the turbo-hybrid era.
“We have new regulations not only for next year but for years to come. You’ve got to choose the right balance. It would make no sense to put a week or two, a month back on the current car, because the gains wouldn’t be anywhere near the gains we are making on the 2022 car.
“The driver will always fight with everything he has. We’ve had the chat [on car development] before and as a matter of fact, it’s a very rational decision. The upgrades you bring wouldn’t close the aerodynamic deficit of the magnitude that these new aero regulations cost us. Fact.
“They [Red Bull] will stop aero development at a certain stage. So the fight is still full-on. That wasn’t our best circuit in the past, and it wasn’t on Sunday but doesn’t mean that we have no weapons in our armoury left.”
