Between 2014 and 2021, Mercedes was constructors’ world champion in Formula 1 eight times in a row. Many felt like they were in a time warp at the time, because the “Silver Arrows” dominated at the end of each season. Now Toto Wolff suddenly feels like he is in a time warp because the gap between the former series winners after the first qualifying session in Formula 1 in 2023 seems to be just as large as it was a year ago.
“We have to admit that the gap was five tenths at the end of last year, even though we won there. And the gap is back,” says Wolff in an interview with ‘Sky’. “We haven’t caught up, we haven’t improved. I think we just have to go in a different direction now.”
The first rumors that Mercedes could have had a false start to the season for the second time in a row were already there at the presentation of the F1 W14 E Performance. It was rumored that the team in the wind tunnel had not achieved their own design goals. That’s not true, says Wolff: “We have achieved our goals.”
“We did our best over the winter. But there comes a moment when the stopwatch is pulled out, and this moment showed us that we are simply not good enough. We don’t have enough downforce. And we have to think of solutions now how we can fix that,” he says.
Mercedes has to “ask itself very difficult questions”
For comparison, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were 6th and 7th on Saturday, more than 0.6 seconds back. In 2022, Hamilton was fifth and Russell ninth in Bahrain qualifying. At that time, it was also 0.7 seconds off the top. “It is what it is, just not good enough,” sighs Wolff.
The Mercedes team boss doesn’t think much of looking for excuses: “Both made a mistake. George braked in turn 1. That was one and a half tenths. But if my grandmother had four wheels, she would be a bus! We have to be precise now look at our car and think about how we can improve it.”
In an interview with ‘ServusTV’ he adds: “We can see that we’re half a second behind. If you say we only used one tire in Q3, it’s maybe two tenths. If you look at it pessimistically, it’s six tenths . That’s not our ambition and our goal. Now we just have to ask ourselves very difficult questions.”
Wolff: We won’t win with this package
At the presentation of the W14, Wolff had announced that in 2023 it might not be possible to win immediately, but “eventually”. That sounds a little different after the first real showdown: “I don’t think this package will be competitive,” he says of the current specification of the black car.
But that doesn’t mean that Wolff is writing off the 2023 season: “We have to step off our beaten track now. We need a reset on this car. And we’ll do it.” A major update has been planned for weeks. As of today, it could be used in a race for the first time in Imola on May 21st. That would be the sixth race of the season.
What role does the technical manager play?
Wolff could take the easy way out and blame the renewed design flaws on Mike Elliott being the wrong choice as head of engineering. Ever since James Allison left operational design in April, Mercedes has gradually gone downhill. The team has not yet cracked the new “Ground Effect” regulations, which have been in effect since 2022.
But Wolff refrains from pointing to individuals: “In this team we blame the problem and never the person,” he clarifies. He is also quite self-critical when he says: “Ultimately, I am responsible. So if I want to do something, I have to fire myself.”
“We now have to sit down with the engineers. They don’t see things dogmatically at all. There are no sacred cows. Then we have to decide which development direction we want to pursue in order to become competitive again and win races. I’m sure we can still win races this year.”
“We thought we could sort it out”
“But now it’s more the medium and long-term decisions that we have to make,” says Wolff. “We have all the ingredients to be successful. It’s the same people and infrastructure that have won eight world titles in a row. Sometimes it’s good for long-term success not to get it right.”
“We clearly didn’t manage it last year and we thought we’d fix it by sticking with this concept. It didn’t work. Now we have to correct that because under these regulations we have until the next major change three more years,” explains the Mercedes team boss.
Wolff: Aston Martin shows how it’s done!
It is difficult to make big leaps within a control period in times of budget ceilings. When the new hybrid formula was introduced in 2014, Mercedes was untouchable for years. Now it looks like Red Bull is the best at mastering the “ground effect cars” that have existed since the 2022 rule reform.
But from Wolff’s point of view, the Mercedes customer Aston Martin is an inspiration for what is possible. He states: “If our problem were mechanical, if it were the suspension, then Aston Martin would have the same problem. So where are we losing speed? It’s turns 5, 6 and 7,” he analyses. “Only there we lose a lot of time. It’s okay in the other corners, and on the straights too.”
“We can only salute what Aston Martin has achieved. They found two seconds in half a year, even though half of their car is our powertrain. They use the same engine, the same transmission, the same wind tunnel. There there are a lot of parallels. We have to acknowledge that they did a great job.”
Wolff is not yet completely writing off the 2023 season
Mercedes has been finding new contact pressure in the wind tunnel “for months”. So far, however, it has not been possible to translate these gains into performance on the racetrack to the extent hoped for. The Imola update should be a first step. Even if Wolff does not expect any quantum leaps from it.
He still doesn’t want to give up: “Motorsport is crazy. I don’t know what else is coming this year. Maybe we’ll find the philosopher’s stone and we’ll suddenly discover five tenths. I’ve never experienced that before, but who knows? But one thing is clear: in the medium and long term we need a car with which we can fight for a world championship again.”