"Everything is possible tomorrow": Mercedes boss shares the long run pecking order for the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP

Toto Wolff has said that the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be unpredictable and that Mercedes will be looking forward to a close fight with their rivals. The Austrian executive believes anything is possible in the race given the tricky nature of the Jeddah Cornich circuit.

Wolff said he feels that the Silver Arrows are ahead of their rivals by a narrow margin, stating that the fuel-corrected version of their race pace showed them ahead of Aston Martin, Ferrari and Alpine. Based on race pace calculations, all four teams are very close and separated by less than a tenth of a second, making it a very close fight in Jeddah.

Asked by Sportskeeda where they stack up against their rivals in the race in Jeddah based on their long runs, the Mercedes team boss said:

“I think fuel corrected version- it is us, Ferrari, then Aston Martin, then Alpine. But that was all within two tenths, so everything is possible tomorrow.”

Evaluating their qualifying performance in Jeddah, Wolff said:

"I think today is about where we expected to be. We know the deficits that we have and two tenths faster or slower can move us up or down a few positions; we know we need to make bigger steps forward than this, though, in the races to come."

Wolff believes Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had contrasting qualifying laps and their varied setups will need evaluation. He added:

"I think pace-wise tomorrow we are with the Aston Martins and the Ferraris; at least that is per the long runs yesterday, so we should be able to play around in the race. Lewis's lap looked a bit sticky in sector one, so we need to look into that. The time never came together for him, but he was as fast or faster than George in the rest of the lap, and we need to evaluate what effect the differences in set-up had."

While Hamilton had the eighth fastest lap of the session, Russell clocked the fourth fastest lap. But Charles Leclerc’s grid penalty promotes both of them one grid place ahead of their qualification place.

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Toto Wolff reveals Mercedes partners are supportive of their difficult period

Toto Wolff has stated that Mercedes' partners, such as INEOS, the Mercedes-Benz car division and others, are very supportive of their journey back to the front. The Austrian denied being under pressure from any of their partners or shareholders.

Asked if their partners, who are used to the team challenging for titles, were worried about their performance slump, Wolff said:

“The people in charge of Mercedes and INEOS, they are high performance individuals with their core performance being sports. We have all been through the downs and ups e is not a millimetre if doubt, there is so much support from them in order to get us back on track.”

After a difficult 2022 campaign and an early admission that they were out of the 2023 title fight, Mercedes have admitted the faults in their car design. Wolff also said recently that the team would be willing to integrate Red Bull's concept as long as they can produce a quick car.

While the Silver Arrows continue to struggle with their car, rivals Red Bull and customer team Hsvr have stepped up their game by a significant margin, which is a serious concern for the team in the aerodynamic regulation era of the sport.