Frustration for Toto Wolff

“Nothing worked anymore!” Mercedes underdog again

After the weekend in Austin, Toto Wolff is still puzzled as to why Mercedes has once again become the underdog.(Bild: GEPA)

The race weekend in Austin did not go according to plan for Mercedes. Team boss Toto Wolff has little appetite for the renewed underdog role and continues to puzzle over the causes. "Nothing worked," is his conclusion about the performance in the USA. The Austrian has set himself a goal for the rest of the season. 

The race weekend actually seemed to be under a good star when Mercedes started in Austin on Friday, but it ended in a sporting disaster. "We have to find out for ourselves why we have a car that is clearly the fastest on Friday," said Wolff and continued: "But we didn't have much to report in the sprint on Saturday and especially in the following qualifying session. Nothing worked there". 

The task now is to find the causes. Mercedes is determined to stick with the update: "I don't think there is a fundamental problem with the technical innovations. I think it has more to do with the interaction between the aerodynamics and the mechanics," said Wolff after the botched race weekend. 

"Mercedes is not an isolated case"
However, the 52-year-old is combative and sees no other way than to get the problems that have arisen under control so that the full potential can finally be exploited: "I don't think we are far away from that. We are one step away."

Can Mercedes get the problems under control?(Bild: AFP)

It is also important to the Austrian to make it clear that Mercedes is not an isolated case: "You can also see at McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari that performance fluctuates, in all directions. You can see certain patterns." Nevertheless, a sobering admission remains: "We are once again an underdog and not where we were before the summer break." 

So what is the conclusion? Wolff is aware that Mercedes cannot currently go into a race weekend expecting to win: "We think we are more likely to finish fourth at the moment. We therefore see the rest of the season primarily as a test to see how we can manage to become third or second again."