© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says the team needs to understand “where the gaps lie” and “regain land centimeter by centimeter”.
Mercedes has been facing a lot of problems with the 2022 car since pre-season testing. While the most obvious one is the ‘porpoising’, team boss Toto Wolff says it’s not just one single area that needs to be improved, but improvements need to be made across the board.
“It’s physics, not magic,” the Austrian said.
“We need to understand how to awaken the performance we think is in the car.”
And Wolff says the only way to do that is by testing the car on the track:
“More kilometers, more laps – more insights,” he explained.
While some have suggested Mercedes’ engine is lagging behind the competition’s, Wolff says he doesn’t think that’s the main issue.
“I think we need to analyze the drag levels first before we really make a judgment of whether we are lacking power.
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“I don’t think there is a big difference between the power units but clearly Ferrari made a big step forward, because last year they weren’t totally competitive and if you look in Bahrain it looks as if they outperformed everyone else.”
Toto also said he is not concerned with results at the moment, but instead he has his eye on the long game.
“When I look at the season, with stable regs until 2026, it is how well you learn — that’s why for me I would qualify the race as a test.
“And there is more understanding where the gaps lie, and it is pretty much in every area. Now we need to regain land centimeter by centimeter.
“I think more than really bringing parts is an understanding of how we can unleash the performance that we believe to be in the car — or that we hope to be in the car, that’s a better word — before throwing bits at in terms of performance.
“This is where I would see it,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
