Toto Wolff claims McLaren the ‘new benchmark’ in F1 after Oscar Piastri’s Hungarian GP triumph

McLaren has emerged as a front-runner amid Red Bull's slump in performance.

Toto Wolff claims McLaren the ‘new benchmark’ in F1 after Oscar Piastri’s Hungarian GP triumph

Toto Wolff(L) and Oscar Piastri's McLaren(R), images via IMAGO

Red Bull began the 2024 season with an unprecedented advantage. However, the Austrian giant has seemingly hit a development ceiling as the campaign has progressed. This has led the outfit to fall into the clutches of its rivals. Subsequently, this has urged Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff to assert that McLaren has emerged as the new benchmark after Oscar Piastri‘s Hungarian GP victory.

McLaren bought a new upgrade package to Miami, which helped the team take its first victory with Lando Norris. In the following races, the English team leapfrogged its rivals and emerged as the class of the field. This sudden rise in performance helped the team win its second race in Hungary as the Woking-based outfit scored a 1-2 headed by Oscar Piastri.

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Witnessing McLaren’s rise, Toto Wolff claimed the English team to be the fastest on paper.

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What we have to acknowledge is that McLaren is now clearly leading the field, under all conditions. That is the new benchmark. It’s great that there is another team that has made the jump and is able to score first and second. This is good for all of us.
Toto Wolff said in an interview as quoted by RacingNews365

The Austrian elaborated that McLaren has a clear advantage over its rivals and is the new benchmark. Moreover, he was happy that another team had taken the throne for the best amid Red Bull’s dominance for the past few years.

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Toto Wolff is uncertain about Mercedes in the F1 pecking order

Observing McLaren’s rise, Mercedes are also not much behind its rivals. For two weekends in a row, Red Bull has been unable to get on top of the podium, while Mercedes has come out as a regular podium contender, as Lewis Hamilton claimed his 200th podium in Hungary.

Mercedes' Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff (via IMAGO)

Despite being on top form recently, Wolff admitted they are still not ahead of the Red Bull.

I’m not sure we were quicker than Max [Verstappen]. We beat him on the track, but starting at the same time, on pure race time, probably not.
Toto Wolff said in an interview as quoted by RacingNews365

The Mercedes Supremo admitted they were able to beat the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in the previous few weekends. However, in terms of raw pace, they are still quite a far way off and cannot expect to take the fight to the Austrian giant every race weekend.

Apart from this, McLaren has considerably closed up the gap to the Milton Keynes-based squad. The English marque is trailing the Austrian manufacturer by a 51-point margin, which is anticipated to be closed up in the next few rounds. Thus, the fight for the constructor’s championship is on between two F1 giants!

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