Wolff admitted that the 2021 season, especially after the Monaco and Azerbaijan GPs, have dealt him his toughest challenge yet.
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Mercedes chief Toto Wolff admitted on Monday that recent performances at the Monaco GP and Azerbaijan GP were not acceptable and that it was his toughest period as Mercedes F1 boss. The silver arrows failed to achieve a single podium finish in the two races, heavily denting their confidence as the season rolls on. The German car-maker was the clear favorite to emerge victorious at the end of the season but now finds itself in a difficult spot. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton is also behind Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship table and could have been left with a mountain to climb had the Red Bull driver not crashed at Baku.
“I think there are lots of things that are not running smoothly as they have in the past few years,” Wolff said. “Operationally we are not at our A-game. We haven’t found really the sweet spot of the car through qualifying and race, of having a quick qualifying car and a quick race car.”
“There’s just so much that we need to improve, that I just want to get on it right now, after this call, in order to make sure that we are actually able to compete for this championship. You can’t continue losing points, like we’ve done in Monaco and here. It is just not acceptable for all of us,” he added.
Wolff admitted that the 2021 season, especially after the Monaco and Azerbaijan GPs, have dealt him his toughest challenge yet. The Austrian had joined Mercedes back in 2013.
“Yeah, they are the toughest. Because not having performance in Monaco, and Valtteri, who would have made it solid on the podium, needing a pitstop of 36 hours, is not really a great achievement, based on the standards that we’re setting ourselves,” he said.
“Then the car that was almost all sessions (in Baku) nowhere. Then, to be honest, cruising in third and even trying to make it was okay. But it’s just not acceptable that we are not getting the car into a performant position after the start, or out of the pitstops. It’s just we’re losing seconds over seconds,” he concluded.
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