Singapore, September 12 : Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is convinced that his team can "get back in the game" and compete with Red Bull next season by taking a cue from the recent developments of competitors McLaren and Aston Martin.
Mercedes had a difficult start to the new ground effect era in F1 in 2022 after winning eight consecutive constructors' championships, and they are currently working to get back to completely competitive levels.
Silver Arrows are 310 points behind Red Bull in the constructors' standings, who have won every race since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of last year and appear poised to win another championship double.
Wolff, though, is optimistic that the necessary improvement can be made during the winter, citing McLaren's significant mid-season upgrade and the enormous gains made by Aston Martin between 2022 and 2023 as evidence.
“From where we are, we just need a step like McLaren and Aston Martin have achieved in one go, not a two-tenths upgrade but a five-tenths upgrade to get back into the game, so yes I think it is possible," Wolff was quoted as saying by Formula 1.
Pushed on whether the team know what they specifically want to do to their next car, Wolff commented, “I think we have a few directions; if we would know it would be much easier. The car is very unpredictable and lacks grip, so plenty of things we need to tackle."
“We tend to think in F1 that there’s a silver bullet that will unlock everything. We just need to put all the components together to make them work together in the car, so not one thing I would call out," he added.
As for Mercedes’ immediate prospects, Wolff also pondered their chances at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, with the high-downforce Marina Bay Street Circuit expected to better suit their W14.
“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," the Austrian added.
“But we don’t know, that’s the truth. The teams from second to sixth can be pretty close together, that’s us and that’s 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 [Hamilton], so we are delivering the best possible job considering the car’s lack of performance," Wolff said.
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