Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has acknowledged that the team’s continuous struggle in hotter conditions is related to “something intrinsic” within its 2025 Formula 1 car.
The German marque’s overriding target with the W16 was to ensure the team’s competitiveness wasn’t dependent on the temperature like its recalcitrant predecessor.
Mercedes harboured hope that it made a breakthrough when George Russell earned third in Bahrain, but that optimism has subsided amid a challenging triple-header.
Russell was unable to capitalise on starting positions inside the top five at Imola and in Spain as extreme tyre overheating resigned him to dropping back in the races.
Mercedes decided to shelve the updated rear suspension that it introduced at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix amid concern that it had exacerbated the core problem.
But with the issue still prevalent – albeit to a lesser extent – in Barcelona last weekend, Wolff has conceded the abiding limitation blighting Mercedes has deeper roots.
“I think every car has an intrinsic DNA and that’s dialled into the design,” Wolff explained to media including Motorsport Week.
“I think that even though we’re large organisations with many scientists and engineers, sometimes you don’t know why a car is doing something.
“I’m not sure McLaren knows exactly why they are so fast, because it comes down to just the marginal gains and the detail and just good engineering.
“I think that our car, generally over the years, was struggling more with the rear tyre overheating than others.
“We were always very strong when it was cold, when that wasn’t an issue.
“And if you look back at Las Vegas last year, we went out from the first flag land onwards, the drivers said that car is awesome, we have so much grip, like never before.
“All of the other drivers were saying there’s literally no grip, they’re sliding around.
“So you kind of see where that is certainly something which is intrinsic in the car and we can mask or make worse with set-up directions, but it’s something that’s in the car.”
Mercedes made minor progress in Spain
Wolff reckons Mercedes made a small step in the right direction in Spain with how it nurses the rubber over a race distance, despite his discontent at the team’s pace.
“We started to hit the bump when it got hotter,” he acknowledged. “I think that the result is certainly not satisfactory today.
“In my opinion, we just need to get on top of it. It’s still the same pattern of overheating tyres, whether it’s front or rears.
“But I kind of have the feeling, leaving from here, that it was better.
“It’s not suddenly that we were really in McLaren, but it was better. Also against the Ferraris, we didn’t look too bad. That was different a week ago and different two weeks ago.
“Overall, we need to now analyse the data and see whether we’ve unlocked a little bit of the potential or solved a little bit of the problems.”
Why Mercedes addressing a core weakness is essential
The Austrian has explained how addressing the weakness that has remained embedded in the W15 will remain essential even with an impending rule change in 2026.
“Yeah, it’s difficult to see lots of positives apart from the trajectory that seemed to be a little bit better in tyre management,” the Austrian reviewed.
“It’s important to understand our tyres, because that is going to be a factor next year, an important factor next year beyond all the sporting and technical regulations.”
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