F1 News: Toto Wolff Delves Into Mercedes Bahrain GP Issues - "Obviously Galaxies Away"

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff analyses the team's Bahrain Grand Prix performance.

Mercedes found themselves trailing during the Bahrain GP, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finishing in fifth and seventh place, respectively. Team chief Toto Wolff opened up about the challenges faced during the race.

Key Takeaways:

• Mercedes encountered unexpected issues, placing them as the third-fastest team behind Ferrari and Red Bull.
• The main problem was managing the power unit's temperature, leading to a need for lift and coast strategies.
• Wolff emphasises the importance of learning from this experience to improve performance in future races.

In a candid interview with Sky Sports post-race, Toto Wolff shared insights into the team's performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Despite a promising start, Mercedes struggled to keep pace, with George Russell initially vying for a podium position before being overtaken by both Ferraris.

Wolff highlighted the team's positioning as the third quickest, trailing behind Ferrari and the seemingly untouchable Red Bull, piloted by Max Verstappen. He explained:

"No given the issues I think this is where we are. Third quickest team behind the Ferraris, and the Red Bull. We’re obviously galaxies away from Max so we are going to have to see what happens.

"It was odd. As the race unfolded, we had to lift and coast more to manage the temperatures of the power unit. We closed it up too much. That was the main issue. And then we didn't have the pace weirdly.

"I mean Max was in a different galaxy. We need to look at ourselves and why we lost so much performance on the harder tyre. We got the cooling level wrong and therefore you need to lift and coast. You lose performance on the tyres. It was a bit of a vicious circuit."

Looking ahead to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Wolff stressed the importance of understanding the root causes of their performance dip in Bahrain. He concluded:

"There's lots of learning I can't really respond yet because we don't understand why the pace wasn't there, so the data will hopefully give us more clue.

"Even when we won eight in a row I wasn't optimistic so we need to keep the glass-half-empty mindset in order to figure ourselves out of the situation."

Keep up with the latest news on YouTube!