Wolff: Progress always consists of ups and downs

In Barcelona, ​​Mercedes team leader Toto Wolff spoke about the progress made, letters from crazy people and friendship with Frederic Vasseur…

Question: Toto, pole and podium in Canada. Is Mercedes active again?
Toto Wolff: After Imola we were able to choose the right direction and increase the efficiency of the car. I think everyone was a little surprised by our potential in Montreal. But this is a very specific song. I hope we will continue to improve and catch up with the leaders. But we know that progress is not linear, but always consists of ups and downs.

Q: What areas have you improved in?
Toto Wolff: Since Imola we have been bringing new products to every race, small and large. Among them are those that are visible, that people talk about, and those that are not so noticeable. This is both aerodynamics and mechanics. All these small improvements contributed to improved lap times.

Question: The FIA ​​sporting rules have recently been amended regarding the minimum age of drivers in Formula 1. What does this mean for Kimi Antonelli this year?
Toto Wolff: Means nothing. I think the FIA ​​has decided to avoid strict age restrictions to promote the progress of young but already fast drivers. So the target was not Kimi Antonelli. Rather, this was done to change something that had previously been left to the president’s discretion.

It doesn’t really matter to us. Kimi participates in Formula 2, takes part in tests, learns, develops, makes mistakes, all this together is his current status. There is no urgent need to put it in the car.

Question: But with this you can at least give him the opportunity to travel during the first training sessions…
Toto Wolff: We could do it anyway after his 18th birthday, which comes right after the summer holidays.

Q: You mentioned that you are bringing new products from the stage in Imola. Why didn’t you take them to Barcelona? After all, this is a well-known route for testing parts. Are you just trying to find a basic setup with what you’ve brought to the last four Grands Prix? And about the forewings. Helmut Marko noticed on TV that they were sagging a lot. Are you sure they comply with regulations?
Toto Wolff: We have also introduced many new products at this stage, although these are not particularly noticeable on external inspection. In this fight you have to improve every weekend. And even if we are talking about hundredths of a second, we will bring these new products.

Nowadays the front fenders play a major role. It is obvious. The elasticity of aerodynamic elements is not important in itself, but in combination with the configuration of the bottom. You can have a front fender that bends like a banana and passes the test, but the rest of the car just doesn’t work well when they interact.

Everyone is trying to push the boundaries and stay within the regulations. And I think over the last three races we have managed to do exactly what we think is right; now all the aerodynamic elements work together.

Q: Toto, can I have your response to the letter sent to you and others in the paddock claiming that Lewis’ car is being sabotaged? It claims to come from a member of your team.
Toto Wolff: No, it’s not from a team member. When we get letters like this, and we get a lot of them, it’s disturbing, especially when someone makes death threats. That’s why I ordered full power in this case. The police are investigating. We have the IP address of the sender. This type of online abuse must stop. People can’t hide behind their phones or computers and insult teams or drivers.

I don’t know what the conspiracy theorists and crazy people are thinking. Lewis has been part of the team for twelve years. We have friendly relations. We trust each other. We want to win. We want to end our cooperation on a high level. If you don’t believe all this, then believe that we want to win the Constructors’ Championship, and for that we need both cars to win. The authors of such letters are madmen.

Question: Toto, I want to ask you something about Fred. What do you think of his work at Ferrari? How has your relationship changed? You used to be friends, but in the past the rivalry between Mercedes and Ferrari was bitter, especially among some of Fred’s predecessors. How have things been between you two over the past 18 months?
Toto Wolff: Fred and I have been friends since the early 2000s, when he was just creating his team in Formula 3, and I was looking after several young drivers. We’ve come a long way, our friendship is strong, we trust each other and nothing will ever change that.

We’re rivals now, so there are a few things we don’t share anymore. We are both emotional people, sometimes those emotions can boil over, but we understand that we have to do our best for our teams, and that can sometimes put us at odds with the other team. This is the nature of our work.

I think it would be wrong for me to say whether he is good or bad at his job. From the outside I see that the team looks much more structured, there is nothing superfluous in it. And Fred has always been like that. This is why the team started winning races and challenging for the championship.