Wolff confused over performance changes: 'But McLaren are not victims'

F1 News

Toto Wolff on Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Ferrari and McLaren
7 October at 12:00
  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Toto Wolff is aware that a small gap has opened up between Mercedes and the other top teams Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and McLaren. Mercedes was the inform team before the summer break, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both picking up wins. Mercedes even finished one-two across the finish line in Belgium, but a disqualification for Russell took that away from them.

But that's not the only example of performance changes in 2024. Red Bull started the season off by winning regularly. Currently, McLaren seems to have the best car. In Singapore and Zandvoort, Lando Norris managed to win the race by nearly 21 seconds. The car of Norris and Oscar Piastri seems to be the benchmark at the moment, and believes the fluctuations don't apply to them.

Wolff: 'McLaren is the only team that keeps performance stable'

"This variance in performance from race to race, or over a few races, is very difficult to compute, because what looks like an unchanged car can go from race winning to P6," Wolff explained to Motorsport.com.

"The only team that is not a victim of that is McLaren, who I think have such a solid baseline and a less narrow window than all of us, that they're able to keep the performance stable," the Austrian added. "All of the others bounce between exuberance and depression. Before the summer, everyone wrote off Ferrari. But they have come back very strong."

Mercedes will bring some upgrades for the United States Grand Prix weekend in Austin. However, the Mercedes boss previously delivered some bad news for Hamilton who has just six races remaining at Mercedes. Wolff said he is not expecting 'many good races' in the final six rounds.

This article has been created in collaboration with Jeroen Immink