Toto Wolff is not interested in the battle for P2 in the constructors’ championship even though Mercedes seems to come back at the top.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff isn’t interested in the battle for P2 or P3 in the constructors’ championship. He said that he would rather win the races on merit.
F1 saw the end of Mercedes’ eight years of dominance in the sport in the 2022 season. The Brackley-based team has continued to make improvements to return to the top of the grid.
Now the team is within 30 points of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship following the Scuderia’s poor reliability, questionable strategy and driver errors.
Mercedes finished second and third in France and Hungary to bag 67 points in the last two races. Meanwhile, Ferrari managed only 31 points in the same period.
But this does not interest the team principal. Wolff said, “Second is the first loser. For me, whether it’s second or third in the Constructors’ championship is not so relevant compared to really racing and being at the front.”
“Developing the car so we can win races on merit. Beat the Ferraris, beat the Red Bulls and prepare for next year, rather than really care about the championship position.”
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Mercedes is not back at the top yet – Toto Wolff
While Mercedes closed the gaps with its competitors and George Russell took his first career pole in Hungary, Wolff says the team is not back to challenge for wins yet.
“I don’t want to say now suddenly we are right back into the game and we can win races. Because I don’t think that’s the case,” said Wolff.
“I think we landed well in Budapest on Saturday [with Russell’s pole lap] and we reaped the results [in the race], but I don’t think we are close enough to Ferrari and Red Bull to really fight them yet.
“Lots of learning [still to do], and it’s also important to get it wrong.”
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