Wolff: Mercedes have ‘taken the right steps’ since Imola

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff says the team have “taken the right steps” since the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, expressing his optimism in the team’s performance.

The eight-time Constructors’ world champions endured a tough start to the 2024 season. Following the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the team sat fourth in the Constructors’ Standings, a huge 75 points behind McLaren in third.

However, after several upgrades, the Silver Arrows look to be back fighting at the front of the field. George Russell claimed the team’s first top-three finish of the year, on a Sunday, at the Canadian Grand Prix.

On the right path?

Mercedes have shown huge progression over the past two race weekends. In Monaco, the W15 showed promise, topping the time sheets in both the first practise and qualifying session. Like prior weekends, the German team couldn’t keep up with both Ferraris and McLarens in Q3, however the gap to them had diminished.

This progress continued in Montreal and like in Monaco, Mercedes were quick on both Friday and Saturday. However, this time around it paid dividends as George Russell grabbed the team’s first pole position since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. The former Williams driver went on to finish third on race day after making a few costly errors, whilst Lewis Hamilton made up three places over the 70 laps to finish fourth.

Podium number 1️⃣2️⃣ for George in @F1 ? pic.twitter.com/xIl8SFatud

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 9, 2024

The team’s improved performance, particularly in Canada, showed that the car is capable of fighting at the front of the field once again which was acknowledged post-race by Wolff. Speaking to Formula 1 after the race, Wolff said:

“I’m always a bit worried when you get carried away that everything seems to now fall into place, because this is a difficult sport.

“We’ve had this positive trajectory since the last three races and everything seems to be making much more sense. The stopwatch will tell us.”

Wolff continued highlighting how Mercedes have improved, addressing their recent upgrades to the W15. He said:

“You really need to work your way through the problems. It didn’t seem to correlate between the tunnel and the track, and the car was difficult to drive, we had the bouncing coming back. Then we had a clear indication of what we were missing in the jigsaw, and we put that piece in.

“I think definitely since Imola we’ve taken the right steps and put parts on the car that were working. That is something that we were struggling with in the past couple of years.”

The importance of upgrades

The next chance for the Silver Arrows to impress is when they travel to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in a week’s time. As well as recent momentum, the team will also take another upgrade into the weekend. After integrating a new front wing to both cars over the past couple of races, Mercedes will bring a new floor to the Spanish Grand Prix.

?| Mercedes, is preparing a new floor for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The new front wing has improved the balance of the W15.

[@KemalSengulll] pic.twitter.com/EDS4BEjVCe

— F1_MercHub (@F1MercHub) June 10, 2024

Autosport reports that when speaking on their continued development, Wolff outlined the importance of their upgrades, no matter how little it improves performance. He said:

“Sometimes when you bring a highly visible part like a bodywork or front wing, this is pretty much the talk of what has changed the performance.

“But the truth is we have, over the last three races, brought so many new parts, visible and invisible for the eye, that have contributed milliseconds to more performance.

“I think this is where those marginal gains then have that positive effect. That was just a huge effort of the factory, so I think the wheel has started to get some real motion on it.”

Mercedes will be hoping that further upgrades will give them a repeat of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix. Both Hamilton and Russell stood on the podium as the team bagged an impressive 33 championship points.

Headline image: GettyImages