F1 News

toto wolff on mercedes improving thanks to new upgrades

Wolff believes Mercedes are back in businees: "Made really good steps"

22 June at 07:00
  • Olly Darcy
  • Editor

Are Mercedes back fighting at the front of the grid? After the German team brought new upgrades to the Canadian Grand Prix, their pace and consistency improved, with George Russell taking pole position and P3 in a positive weekend, and Lewis Hamilton's P1 in FP2 at the Spanish Grand Prix has buoyed the confidence of Mercedes and highlighted that they could challenge at 'normal' circuits like Catalunya, and 'specific' tracks like Montreal. 

Team boss and CEO of Mercedes Toto Wolff was asked about the upgrades and how they have changed the fortunes of a team that has struggled since the 2022 regulation change, and he was happy with the progress that has been made.

Wolff hopes the performance is 'going to continue to improve'

"We’ve made really good steps since Imola," said Wolff. "We've been able to add performance and we've maintained that direction. I think we all got a bit surprised about the potential on Sunday in Montreal. But having said that, it's a very specific track. So I think, hopefully, performance is going to continue to improve so we can match these guys in the front. But we know it's never linear. It's zigzagging a bit."

Mercedes have not won a race in F1 since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix thanks to Russell, a huge period of time for a team that has dominated the sport since 2014. But since the 2022 rule change, this is the most positive the German team has been.

Wolff continued by commenting on what areas have seen the greatest improvements thanks to the new updates: "Since Imola, we've brought upgrades to every single race, smaller and bigger ones. So there's the odd thing that's visible where people talk about and the other things that are not. But it was aero and it was mechanical. And I would say that on the mechanical side, we've seen that the car is very good over bumps and kerbs, very smooth, and I would say that all of these marginal gains have contributed to better lap times."