Wolff: Mercedes to stick with upgrades despite struggles: 'Makes no sense'
F1 News
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has stressed the importance of persevering after a difficult weekend where new upgrades didn't perform. George Russell finished in sixth after starting from the pits due to a qualifying crash, and Lewis Hamilton spun out of the race early on after starting from 19th place. The pair struggled with the balance of their W15 all weekend, and despite winning three races this season, the team left Austin deflated. Wolff reflected on their weekend after the dust settled in the paddock.
Mercedes had been working on updates which would provide them with more performance for the remainder of the season. The Brackley-based team currently sit in fourth in the constructors championship, exactly 200 points behind leaders McLaren. Their fourth-placed finish in the constructors battle is more or less confirmed. Instead of reverting back to the older spec, Wolff says Mercedes is going to stick with the new upgrade and believes that their resilience will pay off.
Wolff: 'It makes no sense to not keep the upgrade'
"I don't think we have a fundamental issue on the upgrade, very much. I think it's more interaction on aero and on mechanical stuff. I mean, we're going to continue with the upgrade. It makes no sense to not because there's a lot of lap time you leave on the table. But on the other side, you need to be very open-minded. I mean, George drove the July upgrade today because we didn't have the floor, and that seemed pretty competitive in the race. Having said that, if you're missing a few tenths in qualifying, that makes it a bit different because it's just not as good as it should be," Wolff began.
There's a lot that still needs to be understood at Mercedes. Wolff is certain that the W15 was on for sprint pole before young Williams driver Franco Colapinto has spun. "So it is more really getting on top of why we have a car that on Friday is by far the quickest before the Colapinto situation. It was four-tenths up, it would have been quickest. And then, on Saturday, it's transformed. In the sprint race, we had a broken suspension. That's one explanation. We fixed that in qualifying, but we struggled with pace," he admits. Russell finished fifth, and Hamilton finished sixth in Saturday's sprint race.
Mercedes 'needs to get on top' of inconsistencies:
Mercedes has struggled since 2022 with the new era of ground-effect cars. The eight-time constructors champions have looked a shadow of their former selves in the new era and will be hoping for better when the regulations change in 2026. "I'm always the half-full glass person and always sceptical, and all these years, that was good, I think, a good mindset that we had in the organisation, to be just, it's just never good enough. But where we are now, clearly, this inconsistency that we have had with ground-effect cars for two and a half years is something that we just need to get on top of. I don't think we're far away. It's just, I think it's that step away to kind of understand more."
Still, Mercedes can take comfort in the fact that performance continues to fluctuate, even at the top. "But it's not only us. When you see the fluctuations in performance between the McLarens, the Red Bulls and the Ferrari, in all directions, there is some commonality and pattern that we can see." Wolff concluded.
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