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Toto Wolff says “you just need to overcome the negative thoughts and say we will turn this around”, but “today it feels very, very, very brutal”.
After Mercedes’ “brutal” Australian Grand Prix, where the team suffered a double DNF, team boss Toto Wolff admitted the race was “tough” on him.
“Tough to take… super tough,” the Austrian said.
“And I would be lying if I would say, you know, at any moment I feel that, you know, I feel positive about the situation and optimistic.
“But you just need to overcome the negative thoughts and say we will turn this around. But today it feels very, very, very brutal.”
When asked about the margin to the race-winning Ferraris, Toto said:
“I think he was 40 seconds back when I looked. Or maybe was it Norris? Like 40 seconds behind Norris, but it’s maybe better than 80!
“I think there were times in the race where we massively lacked pace, and then there were times when, at the end, when you compare like for like, we were doing OK.
“Still not where we want to be, but you could see in the second stint, Fernando on the Medium, we couldn’t come anywhere close. And the lap times looked like a second off the McLarens.
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“And then suddenly in the last one, when we went for it, not worrying too much, the lap times were competitive. Not science, but it was much better.”
Toto added that the changing fortunes of some other teams offer some cause for optimism for Mercedes.
“So, clearly, we started the season in the belief that this car is better than it was last year.
“And then we look at last year and look at these guys: Leclerc crashed out, and Sainz was fourth and got relegated to outside of the top 10 because of the penalty, but on the road he was fourth. And McLaren was on 17, 18, 19, and they are 40 seconds ahead of us [now].
“So, obviously, on one side, you know, I wanted to punch myself on the nose, but on the other side, it is also a testimony.
“It’s a testimony that when you get things right, you can turn it around pretty quickly, and you’ve just got to continue to believe.
“But at the moment, it is a very tough time,” Wolff concluded.
