Wolff admits only Mercedes & Hamilton fans feel down now
Mar.19 - Toto Wolff admits only Mercedes and its fans will be feeling down about the hierarchy shift in Formula 1.
The German team ended its intense 2021 campaign with fury, hitting out at the subsequently-axed race director Michael Masi's safety car decision in Abu Dhabi that handed victory to Max Verstappen.
"These events, and the desire to right the injustice, has definitely released energy for us," Wolff told Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Friday.
Mercedes will now need that energy, with a serious performance deficit to not only Red Bull but also Ferrari and perhaps other teams confirmed as the 2022 season kicked off with practice in Bahrain.
"Let's be honest," Wolff said. "Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton winning all the time was not particularly popular.
"Everyone wants to know what's next with Hamilton vs Verstappen. Normally you talk about a race for three days. But the excitement of that finale continues until now.
"The show and the entertainment are essential for all of us," the Austrian added. "And a serial winner certainly doesn't make Formula 1 any more attractive."
Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko has been uncharacteristically chipper throughout the pre-season test period and now again for the Bahrain season opener.
"It was important to break that Mercedes dominance," he told Kronen Zeitung newspaper. "That's good for the sport and it was our goal.
"And we knew we had to win to keep Max. As a result, the whole team has increased in confidence. In 20 years of Red Bull, I've never experienced how quickly everything worked in these tests," Marko beamed.
As for Mercedes and its obvious lack of pace, Marko said in Bahrain: "I hope they don't sort out their bouncing problem quickly."
"For us, the basic concept is right. We have the bouncing but not to the extent that it is not dangerous for either the driver or the chassis.
"And the upgrade gave us even more than we had expected," the Austrian added.
Another advantage for Red Bull, said Marko, is that unlike Ferrari and Mercedes, the energy drink owned team does not hide that the drivers' title is the most important.
"We are not a car manufacturer," the 78-year-old insisted.
"I don't think Russell would accept the role of wingman and Sainz is also far from a helper at Ferrari.
"Perez is not yet at Verstappen's level. He has ambitions, but he is driving against Verstappen and that is the difference."
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Hamilton isn't the best driver. Never was. His wins are 95% attributable to superior equipment. Without it, he's a mid-field runner. Sorry, but it's true. Qualifying in Bahrain proves it. He's not special.
exactly there are new kids on the block
Considering he has stood on the podium 63% of the time that he has put on a F1 helmet and is a 7 time champion speaks for itself.
According to the FIA if not for "human error"' he would be an eight time champion. He is very special, like your name, it's not even close. The Silver Arrows will be back. Haters are going to hate, It's ingrained from birth.
When will toto and the knight stop whining? Enough already. As for doc touting RB car superiority, what they have is Newey, more ground effects experience than all the other designers combined.
I think tonto has accepted it having won the constructors last season But! sir Lulu is still whining I know you you all say its in the past and lets forget it but its hard to do when he sir Lulu is still sulking. FIA report has been published and he's happy that's its transparent but that's not enough what he wants is for the title to go his way also, expect him to whine, sulk throw his toys out the pram for the rest of the season unless he starts to win again.. Cant remember Schumacher ever whining.
Right, Michael would just smile, get a bigger hammer, and hit you harder. Nige had a bit of that personality. Tough buggers.
Proper racers, men with hairy chest who just quietly got on with the job.
They probably stop whining several years before you
Considering he has stood on the podium 63% of the time that he has put on a F1 helmet and is a 7 time champion speaks for itself.
According to the FIA if not for "human error"' he would be an eight time champion. He is very special, like your name, it's not even close. The Silver Arrows will be back. Haters are going to hate, It's ingrained from birth.
Well we all now know that with the FIA admitting that the rules were broken LW has 8 championships to his name already..
Oldwit, we cannot just write our own record book. The number is 7 and will likely stay that way for the duration. If HAM-L had driven anything but a far superior car it would have been far fewer. Not discounting his ability, just stating a fact.
ROR. You make no sense AT ALL and your logic is beyond stupid. Good teams don't hire mediocre drivers to drive their cars. They want to win with the best equipment and drivers. Haters are going to hate. It's ingrained in them from birth.
What??? Who said anything about 'mediocre drivers'? Perhaps english is your second language. I have never claimed that HAM-L was anything less than an excellent driver. My point is that MB has been a far superior package for 7 years Today's race proves my point. Just prior to the last caution flag the knight was 37 sec.behind the leader. The racing cars have become 70-80% of the winning calculation. Arguably the fastest current driver, VER suffered car failure and garnered 0 points. Right now Ferrari is the best package, witness the Alfa and Haas performance. That could all change over the next. 5-6 races. We'll see. To point, probably half the drivers could dominate given a superior package.
183 podiums and counting.
So, do we put an * next to this one because two faster cars failed in front of him? Hell no, points are points, but please take off your HAMhat for just a moment and smell the Castrol.
ROR that * is reserved for MV 2021 wdc, underneath it'll state 'Human Error'. Your LH hatred knows no bounds
Points make prizes, that's all that matters Ror, the LaLa defenders will never admit to that, WDC21 MaxV ,Not LaLaHamstier, good thing to see is Maxes car is fast, straight out of the box . as is Curlies, if Merc cant catch up they'll run away with this years championship .
Since the hybrid era , theres never been so much evidence that the Car is as you I think said 80% of it, so how good is LaLa?, well the car flattered him to a large degree ,as is seen by this yrs efforts So Far......imo
The car, I wonder what mercedes expert streamliners and bodywork designers think about Tontos latest outburst ;"I'm gonna cut up Hamiltons car with a chainsaw" time to look for another job fellas or invest in a new wind tunnel better still park the car in front of Tonto & wait for another outburst.
Hilarious. Hadn't seen that one. Interesting, 8 yrs of dominance and the totster can't wrap his head around someone currently having a faster package. He should be thanking the racing gods for the gifted extra 9 points. My guess, MB is working 24/7 to close the gap.
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