Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff reflects on poor results, tyre issues, and reliability woes after a difficult European Formula 1 triple-header.
Toto Wolff is frustrated after the European triple-header, during which Mercedes F1 scored 18 points. The team principal from Brackley laments both the lack of race performance and the mechanical issues that affected two of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s races.
“It is hard to see many positives, apart from the trajectory, which seemed to be a little better in tyre management,” Wolff said. “But we have to ask ourselves whether it was a direct engine failure for Kimi in Spain, which clearly seems to be the case at first glance.”
“This is normally our strength, so we need to see where that comes from. But overall, it is important to understand the tyres because that is going to be a factor next year, a significant factor next year, beyond all the sporting and technical regulations.”
The Austrian admits that low temperatures work wonders for the W16, as they did for its predecessors: “Even though we are a large organisation with many scientists and engineers, sometimes you just do not know why a car behaves in a certain way.”
“I am not sure McLaren knows exactly why they are so fast because it comes down to marginal gains, to details and good engineering. Sometimes, people try to believe that there is a silver bullet in Formula 1. Red Bull thought it was the flexible wings. But, as we have seen, that is not the case.”
“Our car, in general, over the years, has struggled more than others with rear tyre overheating. We have always been very strong when it was cold and that was not a problem. If you look at Las Vegas last year, we went out on the first lap, the driver said ‘this car is amazing, we have so much grip, like never before’.”
“All the other drivers were saying ‘there is literally no grip’, they were sliding all over the place. That is definitely something intrinsic to the car. You can mask it or make it worse with the setup, but it is something that is in the car.”
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