Wolff: I hope we can overtake McLaren and Ferrari

Toto Wolff, head of the Mercedes team, admitted that it will not be possible to overtake Red Bull Racing this year, so we must focus on solving more realistic problems.

The team from Brackley had previously encountered local problems, but solved them when Formula 1 switched to new technical regulations and the aerodynamics of the cars were again based on the principle of ground effect, as Mercedes did a few decades ago for the third year. in a row we have failed to build a truly efficient chassis.

“The team is reworking the car and this must be recognised,” said Wolff. – This year no one will be able to overtake Max Verstappen. The performance of the Red Bull Racing car, its skill as a driver and the way it handles the tires are impressive. Essentially our job this season is to try to be the best of the rest, and that’s what we’re fighting for now. I hope we can overtake McLaren and Ferrari and fight for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

You could say that we are in a sense in no man’s land, because Max and Red Bull are way ahead and we are among the teams fighting for 2nd, 3rd, 4th place, even if no one likes that. But this is the reality, and under these new circumstances we are trying to achieve the best possible results.

To do this, we must overcome our direct competitors by recognizing that leaders are doing better than us. But there will be big changes in 2026 and then of course there will be a more realistic chance for any team to challenge Red Bull. That’s less than two seasons away, but I don’t want our problems to continue for the next eighteen months. I just hope that we can succeed and that the team continues its upward trend.

We haven’t been able to fight Ferrari and McLaren yet, but we can still do it and this is a much more realistic goal than beating Max.”

At the recent round in Japan, where Verstappen took his third win of the season, the Mercedes drivers finished 7th and 9th. After four races, Mercedes is in 4th place in the constructors’ championship, with more than two times fewer points than McLaren, which is in 3rd place, and almost four times fewer than Ferrari.

It will be very difficult for Toto Wolff’s team to close even this gap, and we can only count on the fact that the opponents will encounter some difficulties sooner or later. But so far only Mercedes has problems, as was the case in Australia, where Lewis Hamilton retired on the 15th lap due to an engine failure, and George Russell had an accident two laps before the finish, partly caused by Fernando Alonso, and the car crashed . .