Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff feels Max Verstappen can afford to be “cheeky” over the team radio given he is currently “driving circles around everyone”.
Verstappen underlined his overwhelming level of superiority in the recent Belgian Grand Prix when he came from sixth on the grid to beat Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez by almost 23 seconds.
En route, Verstappen was lapping around 1.5s quicker than Perez, only to be told to conserve his tyres by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, to which the two-time champion suggested giving his crew additional pit stop practice. Lambiase shut him down.
The conversation, however, was another stark reminder of how far Verstappen is ahead of not just the rest of the field, but his own team-mate in the same car.
Even seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton suggested Verstappen was so far ahead, he could afford “a smoke and a pancake”.
Questioned on Verstappen’s exchange with Lambiase, Wolff replied: “He has all reason to be a bit cheeky.
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“He’s just driving circles around everybody else, and on merit. There’s nothing else to say. On the one hand, as much as it is annoying, that’s just about the lot (where F1 is at present).”
Wolff recognises Verstappen is in a race all by himself, and that if removed from the situation, F1 is delivering a solid product as there is genuine racing going on behind the 25-year-old, whilst Mercedes would be in a reasonable spot.
“You just need to take Max out of the equation, and the second Red Bull is where we are,” said Wolff.
“It would be a fantastic season, with close racing, but the stopwatch never lies – there’s just one guy in one car that is above everything else.
“We’ve just got to catch up, there’s no choice.”
Mercedes unveiled an updated floor for the race at Spa-Francorchamps designed to add more load at the front, and in turn, improve the airflow to the diffuser.
Unfortunately for Mercedes, the W14 was badly affected by bouncing across the weekend, believed to be associated with set-up and the nature of the circuit, rather than related to the upgrades that also included a new engine cover and sidepod inlet.
Wolff is convinced the development route currently being followed by Mercedes is correct.
“There was so much hard work that went on with the aero guys and operations to deliver that upgrade,” remarked Wolff.
“The floor could have been a reason why we were bouncing but we are going to see it in the data and maybe there’s something we need to fine-tune because I still believe the direction we are going now is the right one.
“We feel we’ve made a step but then you have the top guy (Verstappen) that made another step in advance. We’ve just got to turn around the facts.”
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