Toto Wolff seemed to be a content man today after the new Mercedes W09 survived the entire day without any hiccups and both Mercedes drivers had a fairly decent winter testing day in Barcelona.
Bottas recorded the second fastest timing in the morning session, that of 1:20.349 and completing 58 laps without any hiccups.
Wolff said that while you can’t read much into how drivers perform during testing, the signs are positive, as Mercedes launch another campaign for the constructor’s title this season.
“It was a solid start. It’s difficult to judge because it is very cold and everybody just collects data and sees how they get on,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s interesting to see there are a couple of cars that have been able to post quick times this morning so we are up for an interesting season.” he added.
The W09 has a better aerodynamic package and thus could be the fastest car on the circuit yet again in this season. Last year as well Toto felt that Mercedes had the fastest car and thus did not necesaarily need a major overhaul with respect to the car structure, as opposed to maybe what Red Bull and Ferrari have done this season.
“We had the quickest car last year I believe because from the simple record in terms of pole positions and race wins we were very solid,”
“You need to stick to your concept and follow your own strategy and do what’s right and that is what we have done.” Wolff said.
The F1 circuit has seen utter domination on part of the Mercedes team, who have won both the driver’s and the constructor’s championships for the last 4 years.
When asked if he felt that such domination could lead to the sport becoming uncompetitive and boring, Wolff said that he couldn’t necessarily sit on the fence and not work towards victory.
“From a fan’s perspective, I can absolutely understand that you cheer for the underdog, you want it to be more variable, you want to have more drivers and teams winning,” Wolff said.
“But I am not sitting on the fence. I’m responsible for Mercedes and I want to do well and I want to do well for the brand and for our team and that is why I’m giving it my best go at being successful.” the Mercedes chief said.
