Toto Wolff questions Mercedes F1’s performance drop in cold conditions, fearing the team has lost its key strength from last season.
Toto Wolff is worried about the performance Mercedes F1 showed yesterday during the first day of testing, particularly in cold weather. Under cool conditions, the predecessor of the W16 was very competitive, and the team principal is surprised not to see that clear advantage anymore.
“I’m a bit worried at the moment because, in these conditions, we should be two seconds faster than everyone else. That was our only strength last year in terms of performance in Las Vegas, and that’s not the case now,” Wolff admits.
The Austrian hopes for a more consistent car that can maintain this level of performance even in warmer conditions: “So either we’ve solved the issue and are more balanced across all weather conditions, or we haven’t.”
Wolff also doesn’t rule out the possibility that Mercedes took the wrong setup direction yesterday when running at night: “I think sometimes we take paths that lead in the wrong direction. Maybe yesterday, we tried something in the afternoon that didn’t work. It wasn’t great.”
Even though the W16 appears to be “a small step forward” for Mercedes, Wolff acknowledges that “we have no idea about fuel loads.” This makes it difficult to assess other teams, although some have impressed him, including McLaren, Ferrari, and even Williams.
“Yesterday, [Lando] Norris was on another planet. Very, very strong. The same was true for Lewis [Hamilton] this morning, just like [Carlos] Sainz on the C2 tires—very impressive. But you really have no idea where things stand. And the conditions are far from representative.”
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Mercedes F1’s Pace Worries Wolff: “We Should Be Faster!” Mercedes F1’s Pace Worries Wolff: “We Should Be Faster!” Mercedes F1’s Pace Worries Wolff: “We Should Be Faster!”
