Wolff warns rivals about Mercedes upgrades: 'Never been this good before'
F1 News
Toto Wolff has declared his factory is "running at full steam" after optimism has increased at Mercedes in recent weeks. The team have visited the podium in each of the last three Grands Prix, culminating in victory for George Russell in Austria.
Mercedes missed the mark when the 2022 rules and regulations were introduced and the team have been playing catch-up ever since. The competitive order between Mercedes and Ferrari has swapped around multiple times during that time period. Ferrari were far ahead in early 2024, but it seems the recent round of upgrades has switched that order once again. McLaren have leapfrogged them both in the meantime.
Wolff warns his F1 rivals
A podium was already looking likely for Russell before the crash between Norris and Verstappen in Austria. It meant Mercedes secured their first Grand Prix victory since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, and only their second since 2021. Mercedes are more competitive again but Wolff knows upgrades are required to consistently be able to fight for race victories with Red Bull and McLaren.
"I think we are bringing upgrades now to almost every race. The factory is running at full steam. We've never had this in the last 12 years where we are able to just develop, design, manufacture, bring it to the track, and have the quality in the pieces. I've seriously never seen that pace," Wolff told GPblog and others in Austria.
"For every single race, we will bring upgrades. And I hope that by the summer break, we can take another step. Now, everybody else is working hard. But if we can half the gap, we can race in the front," Wolff concluded. Mercedes scored more points than any other team at the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. They have now cut the gap to Ferrari (2nd) to less than 100 points.
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