Mercedes boss Toto Wolff asserts that its 2024 Formula 1 challenger should be ranked as the “best of the bad” when it comes to the team’s most recent ground effect cars.
Mercedes entered the latest regulations having taken 111 victories during its run to an unmatched eight successive Constructors’ Championships between 2014 and 2021.
However, the German marque has been unable to replicate that success since F1 returned to ground effect aero, landing a single success at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The root cause of Mercedes’ failures was traced back to the ‘zeropod’ solution that failed to deliver the anticipated results on track that the data simulations had highlighted.
But despite committing to an overhaul with the W15 this season, Mercedes has endured its worst start to a season since 2011 as it languishes fourth in the championship.
Nevertheless, Wolff has suggested that the convergence that has occurred as the technical rules have matured has disguised the relative progress that Mercedes has made.
Regarding Mercedes’ latest setback, Wolff told Fox Sports Australia in Melbourne: “It’s a little bit the same since two years. I think this one [the car] is the best of the bad.
“So it’s a better platform to work on, but it’s still not a car that a driver feels really good about throwing in the corner at 200 miles an hour.”
Following the second round in Saudi Arabia, Wolff revealed that Mercedes had a “fundamental” problem with the correlation between the wind tunnel and the race track.
Although it has changed several components in a bid to cure its woes, the Austrian accepts that Mercedes has not rectified the central problem that has held it back.
“I think we’ve lost our way at the beginning of 2022,” he replied when questioned about pinpointing the turning point when Mercedes began to drift from the right path.
“Because all our tools and systems gave us cars that were winning championships every year and then the new regulations were very much around the ground effect.
“That means all the suction happens through the floor. And we came out with a car that showed all the promises on the data and in the wind tunnel, but we didn’t deliver.
“Since then we’ve changed everything from the layout, the suspension, the driver’s position, the gearboxes. But it seems that the fundamental issue is at the core. We haven’t solved that.”
Wolff concedes that Mercedes will be unable to solve its hitches in the coming months, but he remains optimistic that it can return to battling for championship honours.
“Again, I’m looking at it with a very long-term perspective,” he said regarding its hopes for the short term.
“I’m part of the team as a coach, co-shareholder and I think I want to look back in 10 years and 20 years and say there’s been many more championships that we won but you need to be realistic about what you can achieve in a single weekend.
“We’re not where we want to be we just got to dig deep put our head down and continue to work and add performance and eventually you know be more competitive but I doubt it’s going to happen tomorrow.”
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