F1 News
Wolff draws painful conclusion: 'Verstappen is still too far away for us'
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is delighted with the strides his team has made, regarding the development of the W14. The Austrian sees his racing stable getting faster by the week, but also sees that world champion Max Verstappen is still too far ahead, he told Sky Deutschland.
Mercedes' story is well known. The Germans took a huge gamble by coming up with a spectacular new concept in 2022. Halfway through the winter tests in Bahrain, the racing stable suddenly introduced a car without sidepods. Mercedes once again thought it could outsmart the competition, but had to draw a very painful conclusion after a few races: the car was too slow.
After the first races of 2023, enough was enough for the Brackley-based team. In Monaco, Mercedes presented a revamped W14, with a new floor, suspension ánd sidepods. Since then, things have been going crescendo for the Germans, the team boss agrees."We see in the wind tunnel that the performance increases and we now have a better idea of what the car needs to be fast and how we can get the set-up perfect," he says. For now, Mercedes does not seem to be through the budget cap:"We are now working towards a major update at Silverstone," Wolff reveals.
Verstappen still too fast for Mercedes
Despite the steps the team is taking, fighting for wins or even world championships on a weekly basis still seems a while away. "The steps we are taking are getting bigger, but the gap to Max [Verstappen] is still too big to think about putting pressure on him right now," the Austrian admitted ruefully.