Formula 1: Toto Wolff, team manager for Mercedes, stated at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that the team has already made progress in improving performance since changing their strategy. Mercedes said it had made the incorrect decision by continuing with its car design after beginning the season with a sizable gap to Red Bull two weeks earlier in Bahrain and that it will look at other options for the W14. Follow Formula 1 LIVE Updates with InsideSport.IN.
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The team’s strategy is claimed to have been further clarified during a meeting held on the Tuesday after the season opener. Wolff said that there are several initiatives currently underway in Saudi Arabia, although it is unclear if this is the result of work Mercedes just began after Bahrain or whether it was part of a continuing parallel programme.
“It is big steps in relative performance to where we are even now,” explained Wolff. “The kind of gains that are coming in, in our R&D and in aero, are much bigger than we’ve had over a long time.
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“So we’ve unlocked some potential because we are simply look at things from different angles now. We have a different perspective, because of our learnings of the Bahrain test and race.
“There was no step back. On the contrary, there was immediately two steps forward.”
The Mercedes boss mentioned that they don’t want to rush bringing things forward unless they are more than 100% sure about it being the right solution. He also mentioned that the development work has helped them find more performance balance in a week than they found over a month in the winter break.
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While the team has received some encouragement from George Russell’s third-place starting position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Wolff maintains that the team still has to reassess its approach to the car.
“We’re always looking at the benchmark performance, and that is [Max] Verstappen and [Sergio] Perez today, and it’s just too far away. So that hasn’t changed.
“I think if Max would have finished qualifying, the gap would have been even bigger. We have seen in other long runs too.
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