Toto Wolff concedes he’s worried that Mercedes have lost their unique advantage that saw their car thrive in colder conditions.
The Formula 1 grid is currently in Bahrain for pre-season testing as they look to get a gauge of where they are at for the upcoming season. The weather in Bahrain has been unusually cold, which previously would’ve seen the Silver Arrows perform well.
They’ve entered a new era with George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli now their two drivers and Wolff believes they should be “two seconds quicker than everyone else” when the weather drops, as was the case in the past.
That didn’t turn out to be the reality in Bahrain and the Mercedes boss is concerned that they’ve lost out on that advantage ahead of what will be an immensely competitive season with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren all in the hunt.
Wolff said: said: “Well I am a bit worried at the moment because that should be conditions where we’re two seconds quicker than everyone else which was the only highlight last year in terms of performance in Las Vegas and we’re not.
“Either way we’ve remedied the problem and we are more balanced through all the climatic conditions, or not. We had a laugh about whether we’ve lost some of that USP.”
Wolff is confident that Mercedes have made a “tiny step” in making the car more predictable as they look to become a race-winning force once again. The Silver Arrows were the dominant force in the sport but, after their near miss with Lewis Hamilton in 2021, have fallen away.
They’ve won just a hand full of races after the sport’s rule change saw them fall away but they’re continuing to learn as they go with Wolff still rolling the dice.
“I think sometimes you take junctions which go in the wrong direction,” Wolff said. “Maybe yesterday we tried something in the afternoon which didn’t function. It’s about having a car that gives more confidence and that was the thing we were missing last year.
“It was unpredictable and that seems a tiny step ahead. Like all of you said, we have no idea about fuel loads. Yesterday [on day one], Norris was on a different planet. Very, very good. Lewis, this morning [on day two]. Sainz on the C2 tyre was very impressive so you really have no idea. The conditions are totally not representative.”
