© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Some fans have noted that Mercedes has been very careful when talking about their expectations for 2023. Toto Wolff explains why.
At Mercedes’ 2023 car launch, everybody in the team has been very careful when talking about their expectations on how the W14 will perform.
In Mercedes’ press packs, Toto Wolff said he sees “so much effort, motivation, and energy to launch a car that will eventually be competitive enough to fight at the very front of the grid”.
Many have noted that it seems Mercedes is not expecting to be in the mix at the top straight from the get-go.
When asked about his use of the word “eventually”, Toto explained Mercedes’ thinking.
“I was contemplating about that word for 15 minutes when we talked about the press release,” the Austrian said.
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“On one side, you want to say we will be competitive. On the other side, you need to stay humble and realistic.
“So you could say, ‘I hope that we will be competitive’ and the midway, going around the houses way is saying ‘We will be competitive, we just don’t know when’, and so [that’s why I used the word] ‘eventually’.
“I think we are on the slope that we want to be in terms of our performance but then you don’t know where the other teams are.
“I think humility is most important. We’ve always tried to be humble, especially after last year.
“We need to remind ourselves we were quite far off for a long time in the season,” Wolff concluded.
