Toto Wolff teases his grand plan for Mercedes to go forward, says only ‘small steps’ for now
Toto Wolff has revealed how he plans to get Mercedes back to their winning ways with small steps.
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With Lewis Hamilton’s winless season, lack of speed, porpoising issues, and a sudden drop from the top of the field to the third position, last year was a disaster for Mercedes. In the end, Toto Wolff had promised that his team would come back stronger in 2023, but the first three races of this year have been quite inconsequential for the German giants barring Lewis Hamilton‘s podium win at the Australian GP. Now, Wolff has claimed that Melbourne was the first step in his grand plan to bring Mercedes closer to the lead by taking “small steps”.
Mercedes’ first three races have yielded some really disappointing results, causing the team to drop to the third place on the Championship standings, making way for Aston Martin, who are currently #2 with 65 points to their name. But the Stuttgart-based team is not going to shy away from chasing its opponents for the top position. Over the next few months, they will add some major upgrades to the W14, such as new sidepods. And hopefully, these changes will amp up Mercedes’ performance so that they can catch up to the frontrunners after scoring well in the remaining twenty races of this season.
While speaking on the improvements that Toto Wolff has planned for the team, he said that his engineers and other support staff are hard at work in the Mercedes stations at Brackley and Brixworth. He also said, “We’ve had a few weeks off from racing, but both factories have worked hard. We have tried to make the most of this period by incorporating planned developments and making the most of what we have learned so far.”
Toto Wolff claims that he sees Mercedes’ Australian GP performance as “encouraging”
Mercedes’ prowess in Formula 1 lasted eight long years before Red Bull snatched away the lead from the team in 2022. Toto Wolff has indicated that they will be back in the game against Red Bull once the team figures out some crucial improvements that have to be made in the W14. In fact, Wolff claimed that Mercedes’ performance at the Australian GP, which resulted in Lewis Hamilton‘s podium finish, has given him new hope. He said, “The signs in Melbourne were still encouraging and good motivation for the team when we got this break.”
Indeed, fans do not expect a massive team like Mercedes to work aimlessly on improving their car, and Toto Wolff assured that they have a plan. He said, “We want to take small steps forward in the coming races.” He dished out some details about the upgrades that will be seen from Mercedes’ side at the next few races, but admitted that he does not expect an overnight miracle. He said, “We look forward to seeing the impact, but we know there is no silver bullet.”
In a nutshell, Mercedes’ first three races of this new season did not go as the team had planned, but they are hard at work to provide some damage control. And they are also developing new upgrades so that the team can perform better in the next few races. Now, it remains to be seen how effective these new additions turn out to be, and if these can help Mercedes achieve a superior performance to surpass Aston Martin and Red Bull in the Championship standings.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)