Toto Wolff firmly defends McLaren F1, denying any rule breach and praising their legal engineering behind the innovative cooling system.
The weekend in Imola was, by far, Mercedes F1’s worst of the year. Under the heat, the German car turned back into a diva.
How to explain these struggles in Emilia-Romagna, especially when Mercedes F1 had seemed to improve in warm conditions earlier this year?
Wolff Admits Setup Failure
In Monaco, Toto Wolff, the team principal, offered an explanation, one that is simple, unfortunate, and reassuring for the long run.
“Well, in Imola, we completely mis-set up our car. It’s always painful to find out afterward what you did wrong.”
“But I suppose we know we really messed everything up, and we gave the drivers a very difficult car. We massively overheated the tyres, and that’s why we underperformed.”
“It’s not so much about being surprised or disappointed because it’s a fact. We’re facing a situation we wanted to resolve.”
“I think we’ve had a much more decent start to the season than last year, so maybe that’s the positive way to look at it.”
“So let’s see how we can bounce back a bit more after Monaco. Again, Monaco is so atypical. Between hero and zero, it happens fast.”
“So Barcelona is the one that counts for evaluating our performance levels.”
Mercedes Still Lacking Rhythm
In Monaco, so far, free practice has been disappointing for Mercedes F1. More setup issues?
“Well, we haven’t exactly, we haven’t exactly been stellar either, but it’s a totally different track from Imola. There will be different learnings.”
“The most important thing is to get laps in to understand where to balance the car, how to do it, find the sweet spot for tyre temperatures, and get the drivers into rhythm.”
“Kimi just did an F2 race here, so it’s his first time [in F1]. And you can see some of the rookies, they just need time before they have the confidence to let the car run through some of the fast sections.”
Monaco Remains a Struggle
On paper, given the car’s characteristics, will Mercedes F1 shine or struggle in Monaco, according to Toto Wolff?
“Well, I put it very simply. We’re always quick in the cold and slow in the heat, as you saw last year and our relative overperformance when the ambient conditions suited us.”
“And so what it’s going to be is still very, very different. It’s a qualifying race — even with the new two-stop strategy, it’s going to be a qualifying race.”
“The drivers need to feel confident with the car. That’s not the case at the moment, and you just need to align the stars to be at the front in qualifying. And from there, obviously, you have a few options, but I wouldn’t count us among the favourites.”
“For now, it’s a tough fight. You’ve got the Williams right there. Alonso did a good lap. So let’s stay humble and try to do the best job possible and count everyone in the fight.”
Toto Wolff Has No Suspicions of Cheating at McLaren F1
Another topic in the paddock has been the design of McLaren F1’s cooling system, which continues to draw suspicion from Horner.
Less combative than Christian Horner, does Toto Wolff nonetheless believe McLaren F1 is hiding something?
“I think we’ve said it — you’ve got to take the hit if someone’s done a good engineering job.”
“There’s a technical team around Andrea Stella and those guys… We have no doubt there isn’t a millimeter that’s not in compliance. So we just need to watch, learn, and try to understand.”
Wolff Reflects on Antonelli’s Mismanaged Imola Weekend
“It’s a mistake we won’t make again”
Toto Wolff has revisited another issue Mercedes F1 faced in Imola, one that specifically concerned Andrea Kimi Antonelli: the pressure of a first home race was poorly handled overall. Wolff was not present that weekend… would things have turned out differently had he been there?
“I think it’s a learning process. Last year, we concluded that we had made a mistake by perhaps exposing him to Monza for his very first FP1 session in front of a local crowd, where he especially wanted to perform well.”
“And I think Imola was probably the perfect storm because that’s where he lives. It’s his home track, his school, his family, the local football club, all the people who have supported him throughout his career.”
“Everyone wanted a bit of Kimi. And even from Friday, he was just exhausted. I spoke to him on Saturday. He said: ‘I have no energy left because of all this.’”
“And clearly, he’s young, he wants to thank everyone who has been part of his journey. He doesn’t want to be unpleasant with his friends, his family, his fans, everyone around him.”
“At some point, you have to—you have to protect yourself, shut yourself in your room, in the engineering office on Sunday, and let everything else take a back seat.”
“And I think all of us together, as a family, realized it was too much, and it’s a mistake we won’t make again.”
Is Wolff Worried Antonelli Might Struggle in His First Monaco Grand Prix?
“You need to have realistic expectations. Driving the car quickly here requires experience, and I think he started the weekend very well by progressing the right way, without making too many mistakes.”
“I mean, he touched the inside barrier, but it wasn’t extremely damaging to the car, and then he gradually kept finding his limits.”
“The laps are important, stringing them together, and just letting him learn. But I have no doubt that tomorrow, for qualifying, he’ll be in the mix.”
“Obviously, he’ll never be on the level of the really experienced drivers who know their way around here with their eyes closed.”
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