Formula 1 Bahrain GP
Mercedes must commit to one F1 car concept, says Wolff
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his squad must make an immediate call about the design direction of its Formula 1 car, as it cannot afford to split resources across different projects.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Mar 9, 2023, 1:41 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The German manufacturer endured a difficult F1 season-opener in Bahrain last weekend, with its W14 proving much slower compared to rivals than it had anticipated.
The gap to pace-setter Red Bull is immense and, having been leap-frogged by customer team Aston Martin, Wolff has already conceded that the current Mercedes concept is not going to be good enough to be developed into a title winner.
While that points to a new direction for 2024 and beyond, Mercedes still needs to address what it can achieve this season.
And while a lot of work has been devoted to improvements to the W14, with a sidepod revamp coming for around the time of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Wolff has indicated the team may need to change paths completely.
With cost cap limits meaning there is not the luxury to run parallel programmes of improving the W14 and working on a new B-spec concept for later this campaign, Wolff says the team needs to choose one or the other direction.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Asked about the difficulties of developing an all-new design under the cost cap, Wolff said: “It is extremely difficult to catch up such an advantage, but it is what we have to do. We have no choice.
“I am not sure the budget cap gives you constraints in the position where we are, but we do need to decide which direction we are going in and put all the resources behind it. We are still developing one car. The question is just which car.”
With the Imola upgrade expected to bring only two or three tenths of a second, Wolff already knows that it is not going to be enough to get Mercedes to the front of the grid.
This is why he is adamant that bold decisions need to be made straight away rather than delaying things any further.
“We will tackle it straight away because, when you look at where we were at the end of the season, where it seemed like we caught up a lot and it was just a matter of which circuits suited us and which not, it seems like we almost doubled if not tripled the gap to Red Bull,” he said. “This is what we need to look at.
“Everything in between - the Ferrari, the Aston - that’s just a sideshow. Having said that, what Aston Martin was able to achieve is a good inspiration because they came back from two seconds off the pace to being second-quickest team. And with us everything is bad.
“The single-lap pace is still good but in the race we saw the consequences. To put it bluntly, we are lacking downforce, sliding the tyres and going backwards.”
Wolff said that both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell understood the scale of response that Mercedes needed to make, and the potential there was for some short-term sacrifices to be made.
“The drivers are fully aware,” he said. “We are speaking about it openly in the whole team. Everyone is aware, this is not a matter of finding 0.3 seconds and polishing the car up.
“This is a matter of serious performance we need to find to put us back in a position to fight for race wins and championships.”
Read Also:
- Russell ready to sacrifice part of F1 2023 for long-term Mercedes progress
- How Mercedes and Ferrari are chasing Red Bull’s F1 top speed advantage
- Hamilton: I need to be a "positive light" for Mercedes in F1
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Stroll's "whole world was crumbling in front of me" after bike crash
Next article Red Bull: “Flattering” to see Aston Martin's F1 resemblance to our car
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Dec 28, 2024
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Mercedes
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
Formula 1
Formula 1 21 h
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
3 d
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
Latest news
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 6 h
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
6 h
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
7 h
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
13 h
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe