Toto Wolff has conceded Mercedes took a risk with its major change in development direction but that there was ultimately no choice after the shock it received at the start of the F1 season.
Following the opening qualifying session in Bahrain, where George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were almost seven-tenths of a second adrift of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in qualifying, Wolff offered a bleak prediction that the concept of the W14 was never going to be successful.
In effectively returning to the drawing board, Mercedes unveiled a new-look car in Monaco that included major updates to the front suspension, floor and sidepod design.
Whilst the streets of the Principality were unable to offer too much of a clue as to whether the right path had been taken, the Spanish Grand Prix appeared to suggest Mercedes has been vindicated.
One-lap pace appears to still be lacking but in race trim, at least, the car has made progress, even if the 24-second gap between race-winner Verstappen and runner-up Hamilton remains considerable.
“We took some decisions to go in another direction,” explained Wolff.
“We changed so many parts that we thought might be variables that we don’t completely understand. It was a risky move, but everybody has just pushed forward and we’ve got a good race car.”
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As to why the move did not take place sooner, Wolff indicated that it was only in Bahrain that Mercedes realised it had effectively gone as far as it could go with the development of a car born from the new aerodynamic regulations introduced at the start of last year.
“We just needed the shock at the beginning of the season to understand that this (the design) is not going forward, that there were no more performance gains in it,” said Wolff.
“That shook it up, and then we pushed forward, and then there are lead times, you need to design parts, you need to produce them, and the team has done a mega job with all that we have on the car.
“We concentrated on what we think we know well. It’s all down to the engineering work and operations, and all the other engineers to bring the car together. The wake-up call at the beginning of the season was good.”
Wolff remains naturally cautious as to what can now be achieved. Hamilton has already indicated that he is not expecting to challenge Verstappen and Red Bull again until late in the season, if not the start of next year.
“We just need to chip away,” said Wolff. “We are really good at grinding. Once there is a set-up direction and a development direction we just go for it.
“But we also need to be realistic. The temperatures (in Spain) really suited us, it was nice and fresh. Not too cold. Not too hot. The car was in the absolute mega window.
“So let’s keep our expectations real. There’s such a long way to go in order to catch Red Bull, but it’s a good moment to see that the development direction is right.”
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