“The overall package isn’t good enough,” Toto Wolff disappointed with underwhelming qualifying performance

“The overall package isn’t good enough,” Toto Wolff disappointed with underwhelming qualifying performance

Toto Wolff

Somehow before the weekend, there were a lot of expectations from Mercedes for this weekend. There had been the hint of upgrades from Toto Wolff, and there was also general consensus that the car suited the characteristics of their car. The Mercedes W13 has generally looked better on the smoother circuits, and this track is certainly smooth.

Christian Horner had also stated that Red Bull expected them to be quick, and Anthony Davidson had said that Paul-Ricard, aside from Silverstone, is one of Mercedes’ best chances of victory this season. But on current pace, it does not seem they will be getting anywhere near the victory.

Mercedes ended Q3 at P4 and P6, but Lewis Hamilton was almost 9 tenths off Charles Leclerc on top of the timing charts, and George Russell was around 1.26 seconds behind Leclerc. While Mercedes have generally been better through the races, this is not a race-winning pace by any measure, and even Lando Norris in the McLaren was able to break up the two Mercedes.

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Toto Wolff thinks that improvements are needed

Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff

As reported by GPBlog, Toto Wolff was disappointed with Mercedes’ performance over the weekend: “We knew once we get the tyres on and driving the car in anger, that we’d be there as a third force but it’s just not good enough.”

He added: “You can see when you’re on the back foot, your expectations are at a certain level for the race weekend and it doesn’t come together, freestyling starts.”

Wolff explained that there was in fact some experimentation going on, but that it was not enough to account for their performance gap, concluding that the package just was not good enough: “We were experimenting with rear wing levels and tyre temperatures but the overall package isn’t good enough.”

Despite their disappointing qualifying, as stated earlier, Mercedes have been better on Sundays, and everything is possible, especially when you consider their pristine reliability and the scorching heat that will be present tomorrow. However, on current pace, it seems that Leclerc along with the Red Bull has a lockout on the podium.

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