Toto Wolff says it is no fun to see Mercedes fighting for the scraps in 2022 F1 season and that they are working more to push itself back up.
After winning the F1 constructors’ title for the eighth time, Mercedes certainly did not foresee itself in a position where they are fighting for a Top 10 position whether in qualifying and or the races at the start of the 2022 season.
One of the main reasons for their trouble is the extreme amount of porpoising. Every other problem is linked to that and any amount of set-up changes to cover up for that deficit creates balance issues which Lewis Hamilton saw in Saudi Arabia.
While Hamilton did well in Bahrain to end up on the podium, George Russell did better in Saudi Arabia to secure a Top 5 position. Despite the lack of inherent pace at the moment, Mercedes is second in standings but Red Bull will eventually overtake them soon.
For Wolff, it is a tough situation after years of dominance and flawless performances. The Austrian is certainly not happy to be fighting for scraps. Even though they wish to eradicate their problems soon, but he remains realistic about the time frame.
“We were right in the middle of those fun games in the front and from talking as a F1 stakeholder and benefiting from a great show, that is really spectacular, to look at,” said Wolff to written media. “But on the other side it is extremely painful to be not part of those fun games. And that by quite a quite a chunk of laptime deficit.
“We’re not going to rest till we are back in the mix. But you’re absolutely right. It’s no fun at all to…an exercise in humility, and it’s going to make us stronger in the end, even though it’s not funny right now. I think we’re not running the car where we wanted to run it.
“And therefore it’s very difficult to really assess what the lap time deficit is if we were able to run the car lower. And I would very much hope that the gap is much closer to what we’ve seen in Jeddah. But there’s deficits everywhere,” summed up Wolff.
Here’s Toto Wolff on Saudi Arabia pit issue
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on livery of car and helmet plus documentary
Here’s Toto Wolff on Mercedes PU and new parts