Toto Wolff claims Mercedes has learned its lessons from Zandvoort and is ‘fired up’ for a strong Italian GP

Mercedes would look to have an extremely strong race at the temple of speed.

Toto Wolff claims Mercedes has learned its lessons from Zandvoort and is ‘fired up’ for a strong Italian GP

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff (Via: Imago)

The 2023 Italian Grand Prix is just around the corner, with only a few days left until the FP1 session of the event. While the hype around it has started to pick to pace, the Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff, has admitted that his team is fully geared up to have a strong weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza F1 circuit.

The Mercedes F1 team had a weekend to forget at the Zandvoort F1 circuit, where they made several pit wall errors. It cost them dearly during the race, and while Lewis Hamilton could somehow crawl his way up to P6 at the end of the race, George Russell ended up in a disappointing P17 after starting the event from P3.

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While the German outfit is still a bit dejected with its Zandvoort outing, Toto Wolff and Co. are ready to go again and said, as reported by Silverarrows.net, “Zandvoort was a frustrating weekend. There was potential, but we failed to capitalize on it. We got the call wrong with the switch to Intermediates, and that put us on the back foot. From there, it was about trying to salvage what we could.“

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“The missed opportunities are annoying, but weekends like this only fire us up to bounce back even stronger. We’ve got plenty of learnings to take into the next race. Fortunately, we don’t have long to wait for it. Monza’s track characteristics are the complete opposite to Zandvoort, so we’ll see how we get on. It’s also sure to be another spectacular atmosphere this weekend,” he added.

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Mercedes will be eyeing a podium finish at the Italian GP

Mercedes (Credits: Planet F1)
Mercedes (Credits: Planet F1)

While Toto Wolff has indicated that the Brackley-based team is fully charged up for a brilliant outing at the temple of speed, it will not be like a walk in the park for the lights of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull is out of Mercedes’s reach, but the competition behind them is also extremely fierce.

The Aston Martin Formula 1 team made a big step in the right direction at the Zandvoort circuit; as per the event statistics, they were the second-fastest team behind the Christian Horner–led Red Bull. Moreover, with the Italian GP being the home race of the Ferrari F1 team, they would also be determined to have a strong outing.

Taking everything into account that has been discussed above, the Mercedes F1 team has an uphill battle starting at them. However, Mercedes has exceptional drivers in its arsenal, and they would be fully prepared for the hostile environment that they might have to incur at the track because of the Tifosi army.

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