© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was happy after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix free practice sessions, where his drivers finished in P1 and P2.
After struggling behind Red Bull in all Bahrain Grand Prix free practice sessions and in qualifying, Imola brought a much needed improvement for Mercedes.
“Good, so much better than Bahrain,” Toto Wolff told Sky F1.
“The car seemed together this morning and in the afternoon, probably the temperatures helped a little bit because that is where we were suffering particularly in Bahrain.
“So for Friday I am really happy to see that. It was one of those debriefs that is really nice where they said the balance feels in the right place with the odd understeer or exit oversteer.
“But generally they feel very good with the car.”
The Austrian once again reiterated Mercedes has been hit hard by Formula 1’s new rules that favour high-rake cars.
“Low-rake is always an issue. I think what we have seen in our data is that the change of regulations has harmed the low-rake cars more than the high-rake cars.
“But you won’t see that on every circuit if you have your car properly balanced in the right window, which is difficult to get in to. But relative when you look at it over the year it is definitely a hit.”
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Ultimately Wolff is excited to be “the hunter” this weekend, as his team tries to beat a “quicker” Red Bull.
“The race [in Bahrain] kept us very excited, for me it felt like 2013 where suddenly we started the season by being the challengers.
“And it’s the same. They have a quicker car, quicker package, and that is very easy to demonstrate.
“We haven’t seen Max today either on a quick lap in the afternoon and that is an unusual role for us, but it is something that I really missed.
“Fatigue I guess is always a topic for all of us that travel with this crazy circus, working 12 months because there is truly no time off anymore, it is a problem.
“But I think we have good tools to combat that as good as possible, but that is what I enjoy in the current situation so much.
“It is just such a fun place, it’s fun to hunt and we are just enjoying ourselves,” concluded Wolff.
