“We can be carefully optimistic,” Toto Wolff admits Mercedes’ susceptibility despite strong qualifying at the Canadian GP

Team boss Toto Wolff admits weaknesses of the W14, despite a 2nd-row lockout for Mercedes.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff

After dropping its zero-pod design, Mercedes has had an upturn in their form. After a string of penalties to other drivers, Mercedes have found themselves locking out the second row for the Canadian GP. The B-spec W14 has certainly shown some promise in the last few races. However, Team principal Toto Wolff thinks the team still has a lot to improve.

While speaking to Racingnews365.com, Wolff stated there was reason to be cautiously optimistic and observed that the team was witnessing an upward trend. He also noted the team’s vulnerability during FP3 due to insufficient tire temperature, resulting in a significant decline in performance. However, he acknowledged that the team responded well to the situation.

“I think we can be carefully optimistic. What we see is an upward trend,” he said. “But at the same time, you can see how vulnerable we are in FP3 where we didn’t have enough temperature in the tires and we fell off a cliff. It was a good response though,” the Austrian concluded.

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Also read: Lewis Hamilton confident after a second-row start at Canadian GP, vows to “give hell” to Fernando Alonso

Tire heating woes for the Silver Arrows

George Russell’s W14 at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix (Image credit: Pitpass)

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg was handed a 3-place penalty for ignoring red flags, pulling him down to P5. Mercedes is the most beneficial after this grid penalty, as they will start the Canada GP in P2 and P3 behind polesitter Max Verstappen. However, despite excelling on Saturday, Mercedes had major tire warming issues during FP3 and qualifying.

Toto Wolff told the media that the two cars in front after putting in consecutive laps was common. He mentioned that Lewis Hamilton going straight in Q2 would have made him the fastest among the Inter runners, achieving a highly competitive lap time. Considering the circuit’s weakness and the rain, Wolff believed the overall speed was acceptable.

Locking out the second row of the grid. ?

A penalty for HUL means Lewis and George will now be starting the #CanadianGP from P3 and P4. pic.twitter.com/f9XBH6vtza
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 18, 2023

“Lewis went straight in Q2… that would have put him fastest of the Inter runners, a very, very competitive lap time,” Wolff explained. “So overall, I think the speed was there considering this is not a strong circuit for us and it was raining. That’s why I think it was ok,” he further continued.

After strong showings in Barcelona and Monaco, the Silverstone team aims to replicate their success in Montreal. With three podiums, the Silver Arrows are currently P2 in the constructors’ ahead of Aston Martin.