Last year with the driver pairing of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, the Mercedes team in Formula 1 aimed to get back to the top. When presenting the new W15 racing car for the 2024 season, team boss Toto Wolff left no doubt about the ambitious goals.
“We have a mountain to climb to get to the front of the field, but we are determined to do it,” said the Austrian at the presentation of the new Mercedes racer for the 2014 Formula 1 year on Valentine’s Day in front of pithy objectives.
Wolff, who is also co-owner and managing director of the German-British designer, said at the same time that he did not yet have any major starting points as to how far the new Mercedes W15 could actually go forward.
“Formula 1 is a constant relative competition with the other teams. You can have a great car, but if you drive in circles alone you will never know if it is the best. […] I hope that we will be in the chasing group at the start of the season and hopefully get one step closer to Red Bull,” said the 52-year-old, who is entering his twelfth season as team boss.
Wolff’s clear goal: Back to the top of Formula 1
Last year, Mercedes came a decent second in the constructors’ championship, but was clearly outclassed by the hurried Red Bull team with 409 to 860 points. Reducing this extremely large gap without a single race win in 2023 is the big drive for Mercedes this year, emphasized Wolff: “Last season we had a tough fight with Ferrari and McLaren, and at times also with Aston Martin, with a big gap between Red Bull and the rest. I hope that we will be in the chasing group at the start of the season and hopefully get one step closer to Red Bull.”
Wolff, who has already led Mercedes to eight constructors’ and seven drivers’ world championships, makes no secret of his long-term goal of wanting to replace the Red Bulls from Milton Keynes as the top team in Formula 1 at some point.
“On the one hand, you have to be realistic about the chances of beating a team that is well ahead under these regulations and that has done everything right in the last two seasons while we haven’t. In this sport there are “No wonder. On the other hand, our ambition is great. Red Bull and a very successful car are the benchmark that we want to exceed,” said Wolff, formulating the major objective for Mercedes in the coming years.