Mercedes has been struggling ever since F1 introduced the ground-effect regulations changes in 2022. Although Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has been making claims that his side will witness a turnaround for a while now, the Silver Arrows seem to have failed to reduce the gap to the front. However, after the recent race in Imola, Wolff has made another promise, but with more conviction now. As seen on X, posted by user @JunaidSamodien_, Wolff said,
“The small step forward we took in Imola was encouraging. The team has worked incredibly hard to bring our recent updates to the track, and it was a clear performance gain. We have a clear direction and developments in the pipeline. We have a more solid platform to build on now and we are confident that, in time, we can get ourselves into the pack ahead”.
Toto Wolff: “The small step forward we took in Imola was encouraging. The team has worked incredibly hard to bring our recent updates to the track, and it was a clear performance gain. That being said, others have improved too.” pic.twitter.com/3lE5XWqynX
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) May 22, 2024
The Austrian boss sounds confident about Mercedes’ upcoming developments. Despite continuous setbacks, including losing Lewis Hamilton, the team is putting all their efforts into getting back to the top. Having said that, the 52-year-old is fully aware of the distance between them and the frontrunners.
Mercedes still has a lot of catching up to do to reach the likes of Red Bull, who seem to now have more competition from the likes of Ferrari and McLaren. Although McLaren is a customer team of Mercedes, Wolff has yet given the Woking-based outfit the credit they deserve for the improvements they have made since the start of the 2023 campaign.
Toto Wolff doesn’t resent McLaren’s superiority over Mercedes
McLaren’s superiority over Mercedes seems evident at the moment as the former have already won a race (Miami) this season. On the other hand, the Silver Arrows are even struggling to finish on the podium.
Hence, McLaren have also made it evident that the problem is not in Mercedes’ engines but the Brackley-based outfit’s car. Despite facing this embarrassing issue of seeing a customer team above his side, Wolff has nothing but respect for McLaren.
As quoted by F1i.com, he said, “We have to have respect for how they have done things. I’m not looking at that with envy, quite the contrary. I’m looking at that and saying this is what we need to achieve because they’ve been able to do that”.
Wolff is hoping to learn from their customers instead of holding a grudge against them. Now, it will be interesting to see how much have Mercedes learned and whether they can make improvements in the coming weeks or not.
