Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff launched into a passionate defense of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, calling it “an event that sets the new standards” despite track issues that damaged cars and delayed practice into the early hours. FP1 was canceled …
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff launched into a passionate defense of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, calling it “an event that sets the new standards” despite track issues that damaged cars and delayed practice into the early hours.
FP1 was canceled after just eight minutes of track running due to a drain cover that was struck by Carlos Sainz. Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur described the incident as “unacceptable” and while the eventual delay of two and a half hours led to a trouble-free FP2, Wolff had already insisted that the issue should not be blown out of proportion.
“That is not a black eye,” Wolff said. “This is nothing. We are Thursday night, we have a Free Practice 1 session that we’re not doing. They’re going to seal the drain covers and nobody’s going to talk about that tomorrow morning anymore.”
When a separate comment from another reporter — with whom Wolff has had a turbulent relationship — added further criticism against the race, Wolff snapped: “Did you ask the question?
“It’s completely ridiculous, completely ridiculous! FP1, how can you even dare trying to talk bad about an event that sets new standards to everything. And then you’re speaking about a f*****g drain cover that’s been undone, that has happened before. That’s nothing.
“It’s FP1. Give credit to the people that have set up this grand prix, that have made the sport much bigger than it ever was. Have you ever spoken good about someone and written a good word? You should about all these people that have been out here. Liberty (Media) has done an awesome job. And just because in FP1 a drain cover has become undone, we shouldn’t be moaning.
“The car is broken, that’s really a shame. For Carlos, it could have been dangerous, so between the FIA and the track, everybody needs to analyze how we can make sure that this is not happening again. But talking here about ‘a black eye for the sport’ on a Thursday evening? Nobody watches that in European time anyway.”
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Sitting alongside Wolff, his former colleague and now-Williams team principal James Vowles backed up the Austrian’s stance, speaking before fans were told to leave the track before a 90-minute FP2 session started at 2:30am local time.
“I’d probably just add, judge us by what happens when the checkered flag falls on Saturday, rather than what’s just happened in the last half an hour,” Vowles added.
Mercedes understands its lack of performance from Brazil that should stand it in better stead at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, according to team principal Toto Wolff. Lewis Hamilton finished eighth and George Russell retired in a difficult race for …
Mercedes understands its lack of performance from Brazil that should stand it in better stead at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, according to team principal Toto Wolff.
Lewis Hamilton finished eighth and George Russell retired in a difficult race for Mercedes at Interlagos, with poor pace carrying over from Saturday’s Sprint into Sunday’s grand prix. Wolff described the performance as “unacceptable” but after work back at the factory ahead of the final two rounds he’s confident lessons have been learned.
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“Brazil was probably our most difficult weekend of the season,” Wolff said. “After promising performances in the US and Mexico, we didn’t perform at our best in Brazil. We have been hard at work to identify the wrong turn we took with the set-up; we have done that. We understand our mistakes and can explain our performance loss to the field. That’s important as we look to secure P2 in the constructors’ championship.
“In parallel, we have been preparing for the challenge of racing at a venue that is a complete unknown. We have prepared the best we can, using the limited information we have, and there are some unique characteristics we can anticipate.
“The schedule is offset compared to other races. We’ll be running at night, where ambient and track temperatures will likely be in the single digits. Plus, the track layout itself is unusual with many slow corners but long straights. It’s going to be a big challenge for us all and we’re looking forward to taking it on.”
Wolff says the overall spectacle of the upcoming race in Las Vegas is going to have a significant impact on F1 from a commercial aspect as well as a sporting one.
“It will also be an immense effort off-track. We have an impressive guest hosting program including our own three-storey Vegas Club next to Turn 4. Media interest will be through the roof and seeing the cars race down the Las Vegas Strip will be one of the most exciting moments of the season. The eyes of the sporting world will be on F1, and we look forward to putting on a spectacular show. It is going to be something truly special to witness.”
Toto Wolff described the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as his worst weekend at Mercedes and says the team’s performance was “unacceptable” at Interlagos. Mercedes won both the Sprint and the grand prix a year ago in Brazil, with George Russell leading home a …
Toto Wolff described the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as his worst weekend at Mercedes and says the team’s performance was “unacceptable” at Interlagos.
Mercedes won both the Sprint and the grand prix a year ago in Brazil, with George Russell leading home a one-two in the main race on that occasion. With high hopes of competing for victory again this year, both Russell and Lewis Hamilton struggled with a lack of pace throughout, with Hamilton finishing eighth while his team-mate retired.
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“Totally baffling,” Wolff said. “It’s a good word. Totally baffling. At the same time, unacceptable for all of us. We are a proper structure, a solid team, and didn’t look like a solid team. Interestingly that within three consecutive races you finish a strong second in both of them, challenging Max (Verstappen), and then a week later you’re ending up nowhere. I believe this is just not on.
“I think sprint weekends have generally not been our strength. We are working ourselves out of problems on most weekends. Swings are on, but not on from being almost quickest to being eighth. For me personally, the worst weekend in 13 years.”
Hamilton was disqualified after the last Sprint event in Austin due to excessive wear on the plank, and Wolff admits Mercedes might have been overly conservative at Interlagos as a result but not to the extent it finished over a minute adrift of the race winner.
“Yeah, we ran the car way too high, and it’s something that you probably carry that on … But that wasn’t the main reason for an absolute off-weekend in terms of performance. There was something very fundamentally wrong, mechanically. It’s not a rear wing, and it’s not the car being slightly too high because we’re talking a millimeter or two. That’s performance but it’s not the explanation for a total off.”
Wolff believes the current generation of car is susceptible to major performance swings given how rivals have faired at certain points, but feels Mercedes suffered more than most.
“When I look at our competitors, even between the cars, even Red Bull doesn’t get things wrong often and in Singapore the car wasn’t competitive. Aston, within one week went from being outside of the points to having a solid podium. McLaren, in the first part of the season was not making it out of Q1 sometimes. Now it’s hunting Max.
“It is sometimes a nasty surprise for all of us. We got it probably as bad as some of the other teams got it.”
Mercedes is watching Felipe Massa’s legal case into the 2008 drivers’ championship outcome “with interest” due to the outcome of the 2021 season, according to team principal Toto Wolff. Massa is taking action based on quotes attributed to former …
Mercedes is watching Felipe Massa’s legal case into the 2008 drivers’ championship outcome “with interest” due to the outcome of the 2021 season, according to team principal Toto Wolff.
Massa is taking action based on quotes attributed to former Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, that suggested F1 and former FIA president Max Mosley knew of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix “Crashgate” scandal at the time but did not take action until after the championship result could not be changed.
At the same venue 15 years on, the topic of the ongoing case came up due to the fact Massa is trying to dispute Lewis Hamilton’s title that season.
“Well… interesting,” Wolff said when asked about the case. “Interesting to follow. Clearly not something that anyone saw coming. The rules are pretty clear in Formula 1; there’s a civil case behind it. It will certainly set a precedent, whatever it is. Yeah, we’re looking from the sidelines with curiosity.”
When it was put to Wolff that there are similarities in the way that the 2021 title was impacted by decisions that were not made by the championship-contending teams, he responded: “And the FIA commented on the 2021 race with a clear statement. So that’s why we’re looking at it with interest.”
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Hamilton (pictured above leading Massa that season) was racing for McLaren at the time but the team’s current CEO Zak Brown says there has been no dialogue regarding Massa’s challenge so far.
“It was obviously well before my time — I was actually at the race,” Brown said. “We’ve not been contacted; I’ve not been asked about it. It’s the first time I’ve been asked about it. It doesn’t really involve today’s McLaren, so a little surprised it has come up now. Not sure what’s triggered it now. But we’ll just wait and see if it develops further.”
While hopeful that the next Formula 1 race in Singapore will prove a more competitive venue for his team than Monza, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff isn’t counting on it. The low-downforce requirements of the Italian circuit Italy limited …
While hopeful that the next Formula 1 race in Singapore will prove a more competitive venue for his team than Monza, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff isn’t counting on it.
The low-downforce requirements of the Italian circuit Italy limited Mercedes to a distant fifth and sixth with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton respectively, while Ferrari took the fight to Red Bull as the second-fastest team by a comfortable margin. Despite Singapore being high downforce, Wolff says the number of teams in the mix behind Red Bull makes it tough to have confidence that Mercedes can target a better result next weekend.
“From last year into this year we need to be careful with our predictions — ‘We could go high downforce, hurray, we’ll be right behind Red Bull next week’ but we don’t know, that’s the truth,” Wolff said. “The teams from second to sixth can be pretty close together — that’s us, Ferrari and McLaren and Aston Martin.
“But we are consistently scoring with two cars, we are solidly second in the championship, hopefully soon third in the drivers’ championship with Lewis, so we are delivering the best possible job considering the car’s lack of performance.”
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Wolff isn’t viewing the uncertainty as a negative, though, as he says there have been clear signs that Mercedes is becoming more competitive at a wider range of circuits based on where it was in Monza on Sunday.
“I think at one point we were two seconds off in Monza. I think we are making improvements — we are closer to the cars that are generally this season more competitive on low downforce. Let’s see if it swings around and if we can outperform them in Singapore.”
Despite Wolff’s caution, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin is optimistic that the car will be better suited to Singapore, despite the temporary changes to the track layout.
“We are certainly hoping!” Shovlin said. “There is a reason to think that the car will work better and that is because Singapore is a maximum-downforce circuit. Our performance at the high-downforce tracks like at Barcelona, Budapest and even Zandvoort the car was working well. We’re hoping to be able to be a bit quicker there and get back to a position where we can challenge for podiums.
Predictions about Singapore’s Marina Bay street circuit are further complicated this year by changes to the track layout. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
“The track does throw up some pretty unique challenges and we’ve also got some layout changes for this year. There is a sequence of four corners near the end of the lap that have been removed where the track used to go underneath a grandstand through a tunnel. That’s now gone so we’ve got a longer straight which will change a little bit how the tires are working.
“There is a bit less energy there but it’s also an abrasive tarmac. We’ve got the softest three compounds so it’s a pretty tough race on the tires and it’s also a bumpy street circuit. Added to that, the race is run at night. Plenty of challenges for us to try and tackle, but we are going there optimistic for a strong performance.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says Max Verstappen’s win in the Italian Grand Prix that gave him a record 10th straight victory wouldn’t be important to him as “it’s for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway.” Verstappen remains unbeaten since …
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says Max Verstappen’s win in the Italian Grand Prix that gave him a record 10th straight victory wouldn’t be important to him as “it’s for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway.”
Verstappen remains unbeaten since Sergio Perez won in Baku in April, setting a new benchmark in Formula 1 and eclipsing Sebastian Vettel’s previous record of nine straight wins. After overtaking Carlos Sainz to win at Monza, Verstappen said he was proud of the achievement but Wolff claims a Mercedes driver didn’t manage to achieve such a feat due to the way wins were shared between teammates.
“Our situation was maybe a little bit different because we had two drivers fighting against each other within the team,” Wolff told Sky Sports. “I don’t know whether he cares about the record. It’s not something that would be important for me, any of those numbers. It’s for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway.”
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Expanding on the topic a little later, Wolff states his view is based on how he personally viewed such records rather than whether it’s an impressive achievement or not.
“We just talked about it. For me, these types of records are completely irrelevant. They were irrelevant in our good days in Mercedes. I don’t know how many races we won in a row and I didn’t even know that there was a count for how many races in a row you win. Therefore, asking me on commenting on some achievement is difficult because it never played a role in my whole life. The result itself shows that a great driver in a great car are competing on an extremely high level.”
The Mercedes team principal says he would be more impressed if Red Bull was to win every race this season, something that has never been achieved in Formula 1 if the 1950s Indianapolis 500 results are taken into account.
“I think they need to screw it up themselves. They are on track to win every race this season and that, by the way, is a record that I would think is a good one, because that is perfection. We didn’t make it (in 2016) because our two drivers pushed each other out in Barcelona and then we had an engine failure in Malaysia.”
Max Verstappen can be so relaxed about the run of dominance he is currently on that “he’s having a smoke and a pancake”, says Lewis Hamilton after the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa-Francorchamps saw Verstappen ease to victory in both the Sprint and …
Max Verstappen can be so relaxed about the run of dominance he is currently on that “he’s having a smoke and a pancake”, says Lewis Hamilton after the Belgian Grand Prix.
Spa-Francorchamps saw Verstappen ease to victory in both the Sprint and Sunday’s main race, extending his unbeaten spell to eight races. After the Dutchman even made a light-hearted suggestion to make an extra pit stop during the grand prix to provide “practice” for his Red Bull team, it was suggested to Hamilton that it might be too easy for Verstappen, with the seven-time world champion referencing the laidback Dutch character in Austin Powers’ Goldmember.
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“What do you want me to say?! I haven’t spoken to him…” Hamilton said. “He’s having a smoke and a pancake!”
It wasn’t just Verstappen who was out of reach for Hamilton on Sunday, with Charles Leclerc also able to keep the Mercedes driver at bay for the final spot on the podium.
“It always felt like he had an answer for all the laps I did. They had the upper hand this weekend, I was trying, I was pushing a lot, had a lot of deg – particularly in the middle sector – but still got fastest lap at the end, there’s lots of positives to take from this weekend. We’ve got work to do naturally, as always.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff agrees with Hamilton that Verstappen has the ability to joke around during races such is his advantage, but says it’s a position that has been earned.
“He has all the reasons to be a little bit cheeky,” Wolff said. “He’s just driving circles around everybody else on merit. There’s nothing else to say about that. We’ve got to watch that, and as much as that is annoying, that’s just above the lot.
“I think when you compare to the rest, Spa was an awful race (in the past) and before the last stop (Sergio) Perez, Leclerc and us were within six or eight seconds, and that is a major step for us because Spa was a disaster in 2022. We feel we’ve made that step, but then you’ve got that top guy who made another step in advance. It’s a fact, and we’ve got to turn around the facts.”
Mercedes had a quicker car than McLaren at the Hungarian Grand Prix but failed to capitalize on it, according to Toto Wolff. Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position but slipped to fourth in the race, behind Lando Norris in second and Sergio Perez …
Mercedes had a quicker car than McLaren at the Hungarian Grand Prix but failed to capitalize on it, according to Toto Wolff.
Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position but slipped to fourth in the race, behind Lando Norris in second and Sergio Perez in third. George Russell had a very different race as he recovered from starting 18th to finish sixth, and Wolff believes the way that Mercedes handled its tires during a hot race at the Hungaroring proved the wrong way to try and beat Norris to second.
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“I think we had the second quickest car but the result doesn’t show it,” Wolff said. “In theory we had the second quickest car and we didn’t monetize on it, and that’s always disappointing. We have got to find out how we could have done that better.
“You can see that George came to the front from a long way down and beating the Aston Martins and Ferraris. So we just need to analyze that.
“We were too careful in bringing the tires in. After the stops we lost a lot of time. It paid off towards the end of the stint, because we were miles quicker than everybody else but it’s always a balance and I believe the balance was a little bit too much in terms of bringing them in.
“To strike that balance right is really difficult, because you can see that if you are hammering them like Lando did or Oscar (Piastri) did or also Checo did, at the end you are just falling off massively. So bringing them in when you can is definitely advantageous, but probably we have been too conservative in the way we bring them in and we lost too much time at the beginning.”
And Wolff says it wasn’t just the final stint where both Hamilton and Russell appeared quickest that Mercedes showed strong pace in, although the advantage held by Max Verstappen means such small issues hold less significance to the team principal.
“You have seen it in the second stint as well, where we lost a lot of time in the beginning and then gained massive chunks back at the end. But that’s a balance and we need to look at striking that balance right.
“As surprising as it sounds, in terms of pace it was quick in terms of the rest of the world. In the F2 pack it was quick. The F1 car won by 34 seconds. But in a way it is irrelevant. We need to calculate it and say what can we do better at the next race and then optimize from there.
“We can talk each other up and say we could have been or would have been second, but in a way that is irrelevant because you have a car in front that is 34 seconds clear and probably he was cruising for a long time. That’s the bitter reality.
“But as I said before, it is a meritocracy and as long as you are moving within the regulations then you have overall just done a better job and we need to acknowledge that.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has suggested new entrants looking to join Formula 1 should buy an existing team, citing potential safety implications of expanding the grid. Andretti Cadillac is one of a number of potential new teams that have …
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has suggested new entrants looking to join Formula 1 should buy an existing team, citing potential safety implications of expanding the grid.
Andretti Cadillac is one of a number of potential new teams that have made submissions to the FIA, with the governing body currently reviewing them all before informing Formula One Management (FOM) itself of any suitably candidates to join the grid. However, Wolff says he is firmly against a new team being added to the existing 10 and claims qualifying could become too crowded.
“We have no visibility of who the applications came from, and what the proposals are,” Wolff said. “I think all the stakeholders — and I think mainly the FIA and FOM — will decide on such a new entry, will assess if the proposal is accretive for Formula 1. What does it bring us in terms of marketing and interest, and whether they want to think about introducing that.
“Our position was very clear: Buy a team.
“But there’s a lot of consequences. When you look at qualifying sessions, I mean already now we’re looking like on a go-kart track — we’re tripping over each other. There is a safety concern: we haven’t got the logistics, where to put an 11th team. Here in Silverstone, we can accommodate the Hollywood people (filming for Apple Studios’ forthcoming F1 movie with a fictional team) but on other circuits, we can’t.
“Then people like Audi and the venture capital funds (investing in Alpine), have been buying into F1 teams for considerably higher valuations. All of that is a picture that the FIA and FOM have to access. And, as I said before, if a team can contribute to the positive development of Formula 1 — and in a way that the other teams have done, over the many years, have suffered over the many years — we have to look at it.”
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While he admits the existing teams don’t have visibility on the submissions from the would-be entrants that could provide a more compelling argument, Wolff feels the situation of expansion is unique to F1.
“There is no mature sports league in the world — whether it’s a national football championship, or the Champions League, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL — where such situation is possible, where you say, ‘I’m setting up a team and I’m joining, thank you very much for making me part of the prize fund.’
“You have to give to qualify; you have to go through the ranks; you have to showcase the commitment to the championship that we’ve done over the many years. But, to repeat what I said, if it’s accretive, then we must look at it.
“So far, what we’ve seen hasn’t convinced the teams — but we haven’t seen the applications and submissions that were made to the FIA and to Stefano (Domenicali, F1 CEO), and they will judge whether that is positive for Formula 1 or not.
“I’m looking more at the American franchises. If everybody in the NFL — the teams own the franchise there, so it’s different to us — agrees to have another entry, to let another team in because of the right reasons — the right ownership, etc. — then that team is being admitted into the championship. And the same with most of the professional leagues in the U.S. We are a franchise, and this is how I would look at it.”
Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
When it was put to Wolff that the NHL did recently add expansion teams, he clarified that expansion has to be agreed upon by all teams in that case, and denied there was any desire to block a U.S. entrant.
“The NHL has added teams and I’m very aware of it, because they have decided to do so, all the stakeholders. We have done that in the past when Formula 1 was on the brink of losing teams, because of bankruptcy. We increased the numbers of teams and nobody complained about that. On the contrary. We felt that we needed to make sure that we have 10 teams on the grid and not lose any. So these two factors are very different with the NHL to the current situation.
“I still have the belief that this is a league of franchises. And when someone comes in, then it should be like in the NFL, where you say, what is it that the new team brings to the party? And that, I repeat, is for the FIA and FOM to decide. We can comment from the sidelines here and obviously our standpoint is clear, because we would only want to have a team that brings something to the cake, and an 11th team brings more than what they cost the other team — more show, more exciting drivers — and the team’s nationality plays no role.
“We have had an American team for a long time, we need to have a good points system so that we can attract more drivers from the U.S., that we make them eligible for a Super License. We need to support young drivers like Logan Sargeant to give them enough time. Because like we’ve seen with Fernando (Alonso) in Spain, you’ve got to race at the front. If you’re not racing at the front, your fellow countrymen are not going to follow.
“These are the things we have to do. And if one of the applications has demonstrated to the FIA and to FOM that it is beneficial that they join, we can just say welcome, you know. At that stage, we have to embrace the decision that’s been taken and say, OK, let’s work on this together.”
Wolff was not alone in his stance, with multiple team bosses stating similar views, including Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur.
“We didn’t change at all the position, that I think it could make sense for F1 only if it’s a huge push in every single direction,” Vasseur said. “Very often we are speaking about the nationality of the team but for me it’s absolutely not an argument. F1 is not just a UK championship because we have 70 percent of the teams based in the UK. The attractiveness of F1 is much more based on the nationality of the drivers and so it’s nothing to do with the nationality of the team.
“Also today, we have a huge boom around F1 but you have to keep in mind a couple of years ago the owners of the teams made a huge effort, when the crisis was there, and it’s a kind of benefited today. Again, if (a new team) is a huge push for the championship, for F1, for everybody, all the stakeholders, why not? But I don’t see we’re at that point today.”
McLaren’s Zak Brown, on the other hand, remains supportive of a new team entry, as does Williams team principal James Vowles — so long as it helps other teams become profitable.
“It’s a sign of how strong the sport is, that we have so much interest in growing the grid from where we are today,” Vowles said. “Nothing against it but it has to grow the pot sufficiently.
“At the moment, actually, if you look at the earnings, the profit, most teams lose money. That’s the result today, and we need to make sure we keep growing the pot as a result of things. And very much welcome someone that grows the pot further, as simple as that. We all get a bigger pie and we get a bigger slice of the pie.
“There’s the option and opportunity to clearly buy one of the existing entities … that already exists on paper. Our perspective is we very much welcome it. We just need to make sure that the pot is widened sufficiently that it makes sense.”
Mercedes has been warned by team principal Toto Wolff that it can’t expect to replicate its Barcelona performance at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. A major update introduced by Mercedes in Monaco delivered a clear step forward in performance in …
Mercedes has been warned by team principal Toto Wolff that it can’t expect to replicate its Barcelona performance at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
A major update introduced by Mercedes in Monaco delivered a clear step forward in performance in Spain, where the team enjoyed its most competitive race of the year to date and became the only constructor other than Red Bull to score a double podium so far in 2023. However, Wolff says the Spanish Grand Prix circuit was one that suited the Mercedes, as did the conditions, and similar competitiveness is unlikely in Montreal.
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“The result in Spain was a well-deserved reward for everyone’s efforts at Brackley and Brixworth to bring our update package to the track,” Wolff said. “We were pleased with how it performed, and it will provide a new baseline for us to build from.
“But we must also manage our expectations. It was a circuit that suited our car, and we should expect our direct competitors to be stronger in the next races. The gap to Red Bull is large and it will take lots of hard work to close that down. Nevertheless, we’re up for the challenge.
“We now move on to Montreal. With its long straights and low-speed corners, it’s not a track that we expect to suit our car as well as Barcelona did. No matter where the true pace of the car is this weekend, we will aim to maximize our result. The characteristics of the circuit will also provide further opportunity to learn about the W14 and feed into our development path.”
And Wolff says Mercedes can’t expect to make big steps moving forward but can use the updated car to try and incrementally add performance – using additional wind tunnel time compared to Red Bull – to slowly close the gap.
“We just need to chip away … We are really good at grinding. Once there is a set-up direction and a development direction we just go for it. We have that advantage in terms of aero time. But we have to be realistic, (in Spain) the temperatures really suited us. It was nice and fresh, not too cold, not too hot, the car was in an absolutely mega window.
“Let’s keep our expectations real. There’s such a long way to go in order to catch Red Bull and we just need to grind away. It’s a good moment to see the development direction is right.
“It was just concentrating on what we think we know well. It’s all down to the engineering work and operations and all the other engineers to bring that car together. The wake up call at the beginning of the season was good.”
