Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff feels that his team’s fight for second place has become ‘significantly’ more difficult.
Mercedes’ 2022 season has been underwhelming when one compares it to its previous eight years of dominance. They have been massively off the pace to leaders Red Bull and were also much slower than Ferrari in the opening rounds.
Since then, however, Mercedes worked hard to close the gap to the Maranello-based outfit by quite a big margin. After the Italian GP last month, Mercedes were just 35 points behind the Scuderia and the fight for second place looked well and truly alive.
However, the Silver Arrows had a disastrous Singapore GP last weekend. Lewis Hamilton qualified third whereas George Russell started from the pit lane. In the race, Russell finished P14 and Hamilton could only manage a ninth-place finish – a very poor points haul for a team fighting for P2.
According to Wolff, this has really affected their chances of overtaking Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.
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Toto Wolff very frustrated with Mercedes’ poor Singapore GP outing
The Singapore GP seemed like a perfect opportunity for Mercedes to close the gap further, or even leap Ferrari in the Standings. They had been far more consistent in terms of results leading up to the outing in Marina Bay, but nothing went their way that weekend.
For Wolff, it was frustrating mainly because the car looked fast during FP2 and even qualifying. That pace, however, could not be seen during the race which spoiled their evening under the Singapore lights.
“Our championship fight for P2 has got significantly more difficult with this result,” the Austrian said to F1.com.
The fight for second place is tougher and Wolff is not very optimistic. Nevertheless, he refused to give up on it. There are still five races to go this season, and Wolff vowed to give his all in the remaining Grand Prix.
Silver Arrows eyeing to bounce back at the Japanese Grand Prix
F1 action will return to the Suzuka Circuit in Japan after a two-year absence in the calendar. Fans were devoid of racing in this iconic circuit for two seasons because of the Covid 19 pandemic. However, ahead of this season, the local authorities eased restrictions which means that the Japanese GP will go ahead as scheduled.
The last outing in Suzuka took place in 2019 and it resulted in a win for then Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas. The Finn started the race from the second row, but finished ahead of both Ferrari drivers (who locked out the front row) to take home the win. Hamilton finished P3 behind Sebastian Vettel that afternoon.
This season, Mercedes’ main battle in Suzuka will be with Ferrari again. The gap between them is now 66 points and they have to be on their toes to capitalize on any mistake the Italian outfit makes.
If they can get podium finishes ahead of Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz, it will bolster their chances of clinching P2 in the Championship Standings.
