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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the double retirement result at the 2024 Australian GP was hard to digest. Speaking to on-site media, the Austrian claimed that in terms of pace, they were 40 seconds behind Ferrari.
With George Russell crashing on the final lap and Lewis Hamilton retiring due to a power unit failure, Mercedes have now been eclipsed by two of their customer teams in the constructors standings.
Analyzing the start of the season, Wolff claimed they came into 2024 thinking their current car, the W15, was better than its predecessors. He felt that although it's a bitter pill to swallow, Ferrari’s result is a testimony to how performance can be turned around.
Commenting on the Australian weekend’s result, the Mercedes boss said:
“So clearly, we started the season in the belief that this car is better than it was last year. Then you look at last year and look at these guys - Leclerc crashed out and Sainz was fourth and got relegated to outside of the top 10 because of a penalty. [Now], they are 40s ahead of us. So, obviously on one side, I want to punch myself on the nose."
"But on the other side, it is also a testimony of that when you get things right, you can turn it around pretty quickly and you just got to continue to believe. But at the moment it is very, a very tough time,” he added.
Mercedes boss feels they are far behind their rivals in terms of pace
Analyzing the performance for the weekend, Toto Wolff felt Mercedes are far behind customer teams like McLaren and Aston Martin in terms of pure pace.
Wolff admitted that they were no match for Carlos Sainz in terms of performance and claimed they were a second off the McLarens and could not catch up with Fernando Alonso either. Speaking on the performance in the race, the Mercedes boss said:
“There were times in the race where we massively lacked pace. And then there were times at the end when you compare like for like, we were doing OK. Still not where we want to be. But you could see in the second stint, Fernando on the medium [tyre], we couldn't come anywhere close. The lap times looked like a second off the McLaren's. Then suddenly the last [stint], when we went for it, not worrying too much, the lap times were competitive. Not [a match for] Sainz. But it was much better.”
Summarizing the race weekend, Wolff added:
“Tough to take. Super tough. I would be lying if I would say at any moment, I feel positive about the situation and optimistic. But you just need to overcome the negative thoughts and say we will turn this around. But today it feels very, very, very brutal.”
Mercedes are currently fourth in the constructors championship with a total of 26 points. Their customer team McLaren leads them by 29 points. The gap between Red Bull and Silver Arrows is 71 points and the gap to Ferrari in third is 67 points.
The double retirement in Australia rubbed salt into Mercedes' wounds at a track where they struggled all weekend long. However, with 21 races more on the calendar, it is a long season for them to turn around their performance with car development.
