Toto Wolff: 'Last few weeks have been the hardest as Mercedes team boss'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
For years Mercedes have been able to freewheel through the season without any real resistance, and right after the winter tests it was clear cut who was going to win the championship. For a first time in a while, the Brackley-based team are being challenged again, and the first cracks in the wall of the seemingly impregnable fortress are becoming visible.
Most difficult weeks
In any case,Toto Wolff cannot remember the last time he experienced such a tough period in his role as team boss at Mercedes as he has in recent weeks. Speaking to Racer.com he said: "These are the most difficult [weeks]. Having poor performance in Monaco, then Valtteri, who would have been firmly on the podium and needing a 36-hour pit stop is not really a great performance for the standards we set for ourselves."
Not smooth
There does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel for Mercedes. The car clearly doesn't go so well on street circuits and the upcoming races will be held on fairly conventional tracks. Keeping that in mind, the loss of Singapore will not be a bad thing for Mercedes. Still Wolff feels a little bit peckish: "I think there are a lot of things that are not going as smoothly as in recent years. Operationally we are not at our best yet. We haven't yet found the sweet spot of the car through qualifying and the race, having a fast qualifying and race car."
Work to do
According to the Mercedes team boss, it is therefore an important time for his team: "There is just so much that we need to improve that I want to work on it right now to make sure that we are actually able to compete for this championship, because we cannot continue to lose points like we did in Monaco and Baku. That's just not acceptable for all of us."