Mercedes F1 struggles continue at Monza, with Wolff admitting strategic errors and ongoing challenges.
Mercedes F1 certainly hoped for better than fifth and seventh places at Monza. Team principal Toto Wolff congratulated Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, but admitted that several aspects were not right with Mercedes.
“Congratulations to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc for their well-deserved victory. It’s always a special moment when the red car wins here at Monza,” said the Austrian. “Our race was better than at Zandvoort, but still not good.”
“We opted for a two-stop strategy because we were experiencing graining on the front left tire, making a one-stop strategy unlikely. It was a tough challenge to manage, and it was hard to decide whether to attempt a single stop or to push harder and consider two stops right away.”
“Our pace made it difficult to score much more than we did with both cars. We have not reached the level we were at before the summer break in the last two races.”
“When you don’t have the pace, it makes strategic decisions challenging as we have seen. We have time to analyze why this is happening now before Baku, and we aim to come back stronger.”
An impossible equation to “make work”
Andrew Shovlin, trackside engineering director for Mercedes, was also frustrated that managing the tires was not possible without a significant sacrifice in performance.
“We did not have a good race at Monza. Before the Grand Prix, we knew the tires would be fragile and would probably require some management to make the long stints work. Unfortunately, we did not have the pace to both manage the tires and keep up with our competitors ahead.”
“Lewis was fifth after the first lap and finished in the same position. We tried a two-stop strategy against Sainz because it seemed unlikely that we could overtake him on track. Unfortunately, we could not catch up to the Ferrari in the final stint.”
“George, on the other hand, had a difficult first lap; he had to go off track at the first corner and then broke the front wing of his car at the second chicane. This led to an early and lengthy pit stop. We could have potentially gained a place on Verstappen if we had committed to making one stop, but in the end, the damage from the first lap was the most costly.”
“It seems we have lost pace compared to our rivals since the summer break. We will go away and investigate the reasons for this situation and what we need to do to improve our competitiveness in Baku.”
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Wolff – Shovlin Address Monza Strategy Flaws Wolff – Shovlin Address Monza Strategy Flaws
