F1 News: Toto Wolff Fights Against Mercedes Power Unit Slander
In the introduction of the hybrid engine era, Mercedes established themselves as the undisputed pace setters with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. But since the change in regulations in 2022, the Brackley-based team has lost its lead in the power unit race.
While Red Bull leads with their incredibly powerful and low-drag RB19, Aston Martin are tagging along. But interestingly, the British constructor is a customer team to Mercedes and uses the same power unit. Aston Martin's standout performance was mirrored by McLaren at Silverstone. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, driving for the Papaya team, managed to secure second and third positions on the grid before finishing second and fourth respectively in the race, losing out on a double podium only due to an unexpected Safety Car incident.
So what's going wrong at Mercedes?
Mercedes' Team Principal, Toto Wolff, expressed no frustration over these developments. After the British Grand Prix, Wolff discussed his pride in the customer teams, stating:
"No, it’s making me very proud,". He added, "Because this is a very power unit-sensitive track and the Mercedes engines performed really well with six in the top 10.”
He further asserted that the impressive performance of other teams indicates that the engine's performance is not under scrutiny. According to Wolff, McLaren's breakthrough performance demonstrates that significant progress can be made with existing cars when the right aerodynamic approach and upgrades are implemented.
“Yeah, I think we are keeping there in second position and whomever has performances, track specific or through an upgrade, we’re able to just stay there at least,” he admitted.
“Now we have the resurgence of McLaren who were not competitive at the beginning of the year.
“It’s good to see because that means, if you’re taking the right decisions with your car, your car can jump up by a huge amount.
“On the other side, I don’t know what happened to Aston Martin and Ferrari, they made a step backwards.
“But overall, I think this result is no more than solid.
“I’m happy for Lewis [Hamilton’s] podium and both drivers drove to the maximum of the car. So P3 and P5 is okay, but [it’s] no more than solid.”
Continuing, Wolff further admits that he doesn't believe any other team has managed to master the current regulations, apart from current leaders Red Bull.
"I think these cars are just very different in the way you develop them and you look at them, than any previous regulations.
“It’s not trivial at all to develop the tools and assess them in the right way, to have the quickest car. And I believe that only one team has gotten that right so far, and obviously, they carry that advantage with them.
"They are not stopping. And all of us behind: Ferrari, Aston Martin, and us – and you can see sometimes Alpine – we are all in a very tight bunch.
“I believe, if everybody runs the same tyre in that previous session [FP1], we’re all within a tenth or two. So it shows they’re tricky. And it continues to be an interesting journey.
“But at the end of the day, it’s mega: we need to break the run of a team that is the benchmark at the moment on merit, good engineering, and a very good driver. Then we’ve just got to go there.
"None of us has another choice than to catch up.”