F1 News: Toto Wolff Reveals What's Changed At Mercedes To Create Faster Car

Saajan Jogia | Jul 10, 2024

2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Friday / LAT Images

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff highlighted the crucial aspect that helped the team gain performance and win races in Austria and Silverstone. He credits it not to a specific component like the new flexi front wing, but to a moment when all the 'data suddenly made sense'.

The Brackley outfit struggled to get its car right since the inception of the ground effect era in 2022 until recently when it reportedly found the much-needed 'balance' that made everything work well in tandem.

It was speculated that the new flexi wing on the W15 helped Mercedes nail that extra bit of performance, but Wolff attributes the gain to an intangible aspect accessed by the team's technical director James Allison, who was reinstated in August 2023. Speaking to the media at Silverstone, Wolff revealed:

“There was a moment where, led by James, suddenly the data made sense, and the gap.

“Mainly the way we balance the car and how we could bring it in a better sweet spot. That was the main thing. It wasn’t a miracle front wing, it is more the balance that we achieved.”

Further explaining the Eureka moment, Wolff said the performance gain can be compared to the 'old days' when Mercedes dominated Formula 1. He added that there's more to come:

“It clicked.

"Suddenly everything that didn’t make sense, made sense.

“The development direction, or the results of the development direction, are like back in the old days, we are finding performance, we are putting it on the car, and it translates into lap time.

“That wasn’t the case for the last two years. There’s more to come in terms of performance we’re bringing, we’re bringing bits to Budapest and Spa.

“But on the other side, we mustn’t get carried away. We had a win last week benefiting from the entangling but, today, we have an honest win. We had the real pace.”