F1 Australian GP: “We need to be careful,” Toto Wolff remains skeptical about Mercedes’s shot at a win in Albert Park
Toto Wolff has asked Mercedes to not get carried away after a strong outing during qualifying.
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Toto Wolff (Credits: CBS Sport)
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Team Principal, has asked his team to stay grounded despite a strong outing during the Australian GP qualifying session. The Austrian ardently believes, that the performance during qualifying was just one step in the right direction, and the team needs to keep grinding in order to get the desired results this year.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton ended their qualifying outing just behind Max Verstappen in P2 and P3. Moreover, the Brackley-based team’s result was somewhat helped by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez parking his car in the gravel during Q1. While shedding light on a positive outing for Mercedes, Wolff added, “I think we need to be careful not to oscillate between mania and depression, but keep the thinking rational.”
“And what we’ve seen today is that there’s a lot of potential unlocking within the car, that’s clear, but we need to take the right decisions for the long term. And in that respect, we will continue to race the best possible package that we have. And whether that has a narrow body or wide body is irrelevant. We just need to have more downforce in the sweet spot of the car.”
Toto Wolff has clearly indicated that there is still a lot of untapped potential left to explore in the W14. However, he has made it clear that Mercedes will make decisions keeping in view the long-term targets of the team. He has also talked about the narrow-side pod design and revealed that it really does not matter as long as the team is getting substantial results. The Brackley-based Mercedes F1 Team is starting on the first and second row tomorrow, and considering this fact, the plan for Russell and Hamilton will be to get the better of Max Verstappen going into Turn1.
Toto Wolff’s take on the potential of changing side pod design on W14
Toto Wolff has so far tried his best to shy away from talking about changing the side pod design of the W14, but when he was pressed on the issue after the Australian GP qualifying session, he said, “This is exactly the swings that we must avoid. Because obviously you’re delivering such a good qualifying today and it swings into exuberance, and we’re like okay everything we’ve thought was the wrong thing, let’s continue to develop the car, and then when the next bad result you think it the other way around.”
“So we have never had any dogma on what the car needs to look like. We know exactly where we got it wrong. We also know there’s some goodness in the car, especially if we put every step over a weekend right and we are able to extract what’s in the car, you can see that.” Looking at the comments of Toto Wolff, it can be said that he is unsure what to do for the next race, whether to continue with the narrow design that has proved strong in Australia or wait for another disappointing performance to change the side pod.
All that is in the future for Mercedes, but what demands their immediate attention is the Australian Grand Prix. The team is starting at the business end of the grid for the first time this year, and it will be fascinating to see what Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could produce against the reigning F1 World Champion. Considering everything, is a race win on the cards for Mercedes at Albert Park?
In case you missed it:
- F1 Australian GP: Toto Wolf cautions Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ‘not to get carried away’ with newly found pace
- F1 Australian GP: “I deserve to be here,” Lando Norris dejected after yet another disappointing session
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Rishabh Negi
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