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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he “wouldn’t be in this sport if I didn’t feel I could beat Red Bull before 2026″.
In a talk with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff opened up on the team’s plan for their 2024 car.
“For 2024 we’re going to change a lot, trying to get back to basics,” the Austrian said.
“I don’t want to hear Lewis saying: ‘I’m sitting too far ahead with the cockpit, suspension cinematisms that we don’t understand and so on.’
“We have to be decided on what we understand and what we don’t understand we have to put aside. It’s not about technical sophistication but about solid engineering.”
Toto added Mercedes’ current biggest issue is that their drivers’ don’t have confidence in their car.
“The biggest problem is that the drivers don’t have confidence in the W14, in alternate phases on top of that.
“When they curve they don’t know how the car will behave, perhaps with different feelings between Hamilton and Russell despite adopting the same set-up.
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“If you have a solid platform, you take the results home, just look at Albon with the Williams, a simple and aerodynamically efficient single-seater without great means.”
Despite current performance issues, Wolff believes Mercedes can beat Red Bull before the big regulations change which will come into effect in 2026.
“I wouldn’t be in this sport if I didn’t feel I could beat Red Bull before 2026.
“If you think about how much Aston Martin grew in the winter and the leap forward made by McLaren during the summer, if we were able to find 3 or 4 tenths we would be back in the game.
“We know that our car is worth something more than it has produced so far, but we have not yet been able to figure out how to get there.
“But that’s what allows us to be optimistic,” he concluded.
