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Amid Mercedes' lackluster show in the 2024 Formula 1 season, team principal Toto Wolff has named his prime rivals as he eyes to dethrone them from the superior spot.
With the advent of the hybrid era in 2014, Mercedes exercised its unfathomable reign of supremacy by bagging eight consecutive constructor titles and seven back-to-back driver championships. However, as the 2022 season came to be, and in a bid to level the playing field, the emphasis of the FIA was shifted from the engine to the aero concept of the car.
Lewis Hamilton recorded his last win with Mercedes at the 2021 Saudi Arabia GP but lost the following race and the championship to RedBull's Max Verstappen at the Yas Marina Circuit. Since then, the Brit hasn't raked a single victory, but his teammate Geroge Russell managed to swoop in a single win at the 2022 Brazilian GP.
As the seasons progressed, the German outfit that was once the benchmark of performance succumbed to issues with their single-seater car. The 2024 season is probably their worst so far, as the team's poor performance has placed them at P4 in the constructors championship.
The best result came at the Bahrain GP, where the teammates collected 16 points. However, they fumbled in their subsequent outings, with a brutal double DNF at the Australian GP. Despite the team's continuous under-par display, Toto Wolff believes that the W15 package would improve in further races and named two rivals whom Mercedes is looking to dethrone.
Wolff said (via RaceFans):
“We had a double DNF in [Australia] and that’s not going to reflect well in the points. But I think our battle is with McLaren, hopefully we can catch back up to Ferrari and this is just a constant process now."
“We’ve turned the page, I believe, in how we analyse the car, how we develop it, how we’re setting it up. And that is not reflected in the result [in Japan], definitely will be in the short term future,” added Hamilton's boss.
Mercedes boss brims with positivity for the upcoming Shanghai run
Five years ago, the last Chinese GP was flagged off at the Shanghai International Circuit, where Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas reigned supreme, coming home with a 1-2 finish. After the 2019 event, the track was closed until the end of the 2023 season as COVID-19 brutally struck the world.
The lights for the 56-lap race will go off on Sunday, April 21, at 15.00 Track Time. After their dismal outing in Melbourne, the Mercedes duo tried to churn a positive result at the Japanese GP, but to no avail. Hamilton apparently struggled with his tires and the overall working of the W15 so much that he was prompted to ask his race engineer, "Shall I let George by?"
As the 39-year-old is looking to defend his 2019 win on the 5.451 km circuit, the issues with W15 might rob the Brit of his first win since 2021. Nevertheless, Toto Wolff is confident that the "unknowns" of the Chinese GP will contribute to an "interesting" weekend.
He said (via X):
“It will be an interesting weekend on track. With new cars, new tires, and changes to the track surface since we last raced in China, there will be plenty of unknowns."
Wolff added:
"The headline results didn't necessarily show it, but we made solid progress with our car in Japan. We are looking forward to building on that this weekend.”
