Wolff Looking Forward to Start With New Driver Next Season?
Apr.22 - Just like Ferrari and also McLaren, Mercedes is planning a key car update for the forthcoming Miami GP.
The formerly-dominant team, now in a three-season slump that has cost Mercedes the post-2024 services of Lewis Hamilton, showed no signs of recovery last weekend in China.
"This is a bad car," an increasingly forthright and dejected team boss and co-owner Toto Wolff told Sky Deutschland on Sunday, when George Russell finished sixth.
"We will bring some new things to Miami, which we really need, but now we are behind the Ferraris and also Lando Norris, and that is simply not good enough."
Indeed, angered by Wolff's push to entice Max Verstappen to Mercedes next year, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said on Sunday: "Why would anyone want to leave this team?
"Mercedes is the third team with those engines," he quipped, referring also to Aston Martin, whose Fernando Alonso finished ahead of Hamilton on Sunday.
Wolff admits that, for the third consecutive season, Mercedes' new car for another long season is flawed - but he's hopeful some updates can start to turn the situation around.
"We see the errors in it but we have something for Miami and it looks like a good move. Let's see where it takes us," said the Austrian.
It's also clear that, with Hamilton moving to Ferrari or 2025, the love affair between the seven time world champion and the Brackley based team is most definitely over.
Wolff actually implied that Hamilton was to blame for getting the car setup so wrong after Saturday's sprint race.
"We definitely positioned the car incorrectly," he said. "Lewis set a development direction that was so wrong that the car didn't make it around the corners."
Wolff also suggested that Mercedes will not be hurt by Hamilton's departure.
"The fact is that the role of the driver in the development of a car is overestimated," he said. "It's worse to lose an engineer than a driver."
Hamilton hit back: "I'm not a car designer. I wish I was!"
While Wolff's dream-pick for 2025 is Max Verstappen, also in the running is Carlos Sainz, who is believed to have been offered a one-year deal that leaves the door open for Kimi Antonelli's 2026 Formula 1 debut.
"There are some interesting discussions and interesting options," Wolff said, "both short and long term. I'm looking forward to starting a new era next year with a new driver.
"Twelve years with Lewis was incredible, but now there's a refresh."
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The one-year deal reference came from Rosberg, albeit whether that's based on an inside source or merely a third-party is another matter.
"The fact is that the role of the driver in the development of a car is overestimated," he said. "It's worse to lose an engineer than a driver."
Torgers losing it big style lol
Toto in love with Ham definiteley seems to be over. He learnt being so close with a driver is not what you should do as a team principal.
Same with Horner and RIC.
You need to make objective decisions as a team principal not subjective based on emotion.
I bring it back to experience before Mercedes , Torger was a non-exec director at Williams and only that because he bought his way in, only to slip into the still warm shoes of Ross Brawn, Nick Fry and even Norbert H to a degree at Merc, he has never had to cope with the downside of F1, actually developing a car and Now his lack of experience is showing , being Lucys adopted Dad and her best friend i agree was a mistake , especially with there contracts only taking 30mins to sort out yeah right, Ron D and Frank W were never "Friends" with there drivers
Agreed. As CH has discovered the rule applies to all team members. Cross the line at your peril.
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