by VALERIO BARRETTA
Wolff looks to the future
The current Mercedes doesn't give Toto great satisfaction Wolff and to the team Mercedes. Convinced that they had finally turned the page after the two unhappy “editions”, the W15 should have been the turning point for the team that dominated the turbo-hybrid era until 2020. Instead, what seemed like a step forward turned into a step backwards, as Mercedes lost ground not only to Red Bull, but also Ferrari and McLaren, even being beaten by Aston Martin in Jeddah and Melbourne.
Wolff's words
It's logical that frustration reigns in Brackley. Wolff admitted that he would willingly give himself “a punch in the nose” for the mistakes made in recent years, and now speaks openly about 2026, the year of the power unit revolution: “If we're still in our current position a season from now, then we'll have to seriously talk about how to approach 2025. But we are Mercedes, and we are in Formula 1: we're not going to let go of an entire year. Obviously 2026 could be a big turning point, and sometimes it takes a little while. When Michael Schumacher moved from Benetton to Ferrari, it took four seasons before he won his first title. But it was one of the reasons Ferrari was rebuilt“, these are his words to De Telegraaf.
“When the era of hybrid engines began in 2014, we demonstrated how competitive we can be in that field. Now, looking internally at developments towards 2026, I think we will be very competitive again. But the engine alone is not enough, we also need to build a good chassis. And have a good duo of drivers. I am confident that we will return to the absolute top again“.
The W15 that doesn't work
Wolff also commented on Mercedes' difficult start to the season, never on the podium in three GPs and even fifth in Melbourne. “Unfortunately for us the hierarchies don't seem to have changed much. I think we understood the car better than in previous years. We know what we need to change to make the car behave better in fast corners, for example. But if we do this, we still waste time on the slow sections. In short, we have not yet found a solution that allows us to achieve a better lap time“.
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