Wolff: Mercedes 'still playing catch-up' to Red Bull
Wolff: Mercedes 'still playing catch-up' to Red Bull
Toto Wolff has conceded Mercedes is 'still playing catch-up' on Red Bull as the 2023 Formula 1 season kicks off in Bahrain this weekend.
Mercedes were forced to watch Red Bull largely fulfil the status quo in pre-season testing, proving their car still superior to their rivals.
The new-improved W14 will be unleashed this weekend and the Formula 1 audience will be able to see what it is capable of - and Wolff knows that there are a number of unknowns around car performance.
"We didn't have the smoothest winter test in Bahrain," said Wolff.
"We had some reliability problems and struggled with the car set-up on day two.
"But the key objective was to learn about the car, and we did lots of learning. We made good progress on the final day, which gave us directions to work on in the short period between the test and this weekend's race.
"It's always hard to have a clear picture of competitiveness at pre-season testing - and even more so with only three days of data available.
"Our expectations were that we would likely be playing catch-up to the front, based on how last year ended. That seems to be the case so far but we will only know for sure after this weekend."
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Mercedes 'stronger than 12 months ago'
But Wolff was keen to add that they feel that they are in a better position than they were this time last year, as they adjusted to the new regulations.
"Nevertheless, we are confident we have got a car we can work with and are in a stronger position than 12 months ago," he added.
"More importantly, we are relishing the challenge.
"This championship will be fought over 23 race weekends, and each one will give us an opportunity to improve. The start of a new season is always exciting, whether you've been working in this sport for a few decades, years or weeks.
"So much hard work has gone into the W14 over the winter and the anticipation to be get racing has kept on building. We will be going flat out this weekend - and are determined to keep that going to the final lap in Abu Dhabi."
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Nyck De Vries
- Liam Lawson
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2023
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Australia 2023
- Grand Prix of China 2023
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- Miami Grand Prix 2023
- Qatar Airways Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'emilia Romagna 2023
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2023
- AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
- Grand Prix du Canada 2023
- Grand Prix of Austria 2023
- Aramco Grand Prix of Great Britain 2023
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2023
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2023
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Italy 2023
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2023
- Grand Prix of Japan 2023
- Qatar Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of the United States 2023
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2023
- Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2023
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