Mercedes F1 faced setbacks in Singapore, with Wolff lamenting a ‘painful’ race due to a sluggish W15 and disappointing results.
Toto Wolff did not conceal his concern after the Singapore race. The Mercedes F1 team principal had hoped for better with his two drivers starting in the front row, but the limited performance of the Brackley cars proved costly to his team.
“It was a truly painful evening for us. Fourth and sixth are not good results after starting third and fourth,” Wolff admitted. “A word first about Lewis and George, who were exhausted at the finish. They both suffered from the car overheating but they are okay.”
“They took an ice bath and I think that helped them a bit. Our strategic decisions during the race were influenced by our past experiences here where track position is crucial. We thought the soft tire would give Lewis an advantage at the start, but it turned out to be the wrong decision.”
“With our struggles to manage rear surface temperatures, we fell back. Overtaking turned out to be possible, unlike in previous races here where it was more of a procession, and in hindsight, we should have started him on the medium.”
“That does not hide the fact that we were too slow. We are currently struggling on tracks that are hot and demanding in terms of traction, like Singapore and Baku, but that’s no excuse.”
“It’s tough for us to accept, but we must do so and find a way to improve. We are now looking towards Austin where we will have an update, and we hope it will move us forward.”
“We had to pick our battles,”
Andrew Shovlin, trackside engineering director, also acknowledges that the first element that proved costly for Mercedes was the lack of race performance: “Our pace was ultimately low and that made the evening incredibly difficult. After qualifying within tenths of Norris and Verstappen, we thought we could fight for the podium.”
“This influenced our decision to start on the soft compound with Lewis as we looked to make up ground in the first lap. Unfortunately, with our lack of pace and struggles to control the rear tire temperatures, this turned out to be a bad decision and he faced a challenging race.”
The engineer admits that Mercedes had to decide in which situations battling would be futile: “It was largely a strategy and a defensive race for George. We had to pick our battles and it was clear we didn’t have the speed to compete with Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.”
“He was much faster and, with a tire advantage, he was always going to fare better. George did well to hold off Leclerc’s attacking Ferrari and limit the damage. We now have the opportunity over the next few weeks to analyze and understand what happened to our pace.”
“We had moments during the weekend where we were competitive, so we know the car has inherent pace. We are also bringing an update package to the car for the next race and hope it will bring us closer to the fight at the front.”
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W15 Too Slow: Wolff Unhappy with Singapore Results W15 Too Slow: Wolff Unhappy with Singapore Results
