Mercedes boss Toto Wolff detailed why the team was unable to conquer the ground-effect era of Formula 1, after obliterating the first phase of the V6 hybrid period.
The German marque was the team that successfully cracked the code of the hybrid era’s first iteration, winning every Constructors’ Championship between 2014 and 2021.
It set a high bar of expectation, which transcended to F1 fandom, which expected the Silver Arrows to continue its domination, but ground-effect brought problems.
Whilst its cars during that time were somewhat competitive and, on their day, could challenge for wins, those days did not come as frequently as it was used to.
And with just seven wins in that period, Mercedes will be hoping for a fresh start amid F1’s new radical rulebook, which will take effect next year.
Speaking after the curtain-closer of both ground-effect and the 2025 season, Wolff countered that whilst it was a title-less time, it wasn’t wholly unsatisfactory.
“We failed to win a World Championship. But it was a P2, P3, P4, P2. That is not a complete failure,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “When you look at those stats set before in 20 years, it looks solid and respectable.
“But obviously now and in the moment, there is nothing to be happy about. Because there has always been a team that was far ahead in all of those four years.
“So what was the reason? I think that we got off to a wrong start at the beginning. We tried to solve problem by problem. Whilst peeling off and sorting out those problems, new problems occurred. And we were never able to correlate, understand.”
Failure to understand F1 ground-effect led to ‘false dawns’ for Mercedes
The first team to truly decipher the ground-effect era successfully was Red Bull, which took half of its Constructors’ titles, and all but one Drivers’ title.
McLaren was the other outfit to fully comprehend it properly, coming on strong in the second half of 2024 to win its first Constructors’ title since 1998.
And in 2025, retained it and scored the Drivers’ Championship too, via Lando Norris.
Wolff conceded that, whilst it had many ideas to get it right, and many flashes of success, the team ultimately did not do enough to compete with its rivals.
“We had false dawns and lots of kind of theories,” he said. “But never one that would give us an edge to fight for a World Championship. And our competitors have just done a better job.
“I mean, you look at McLaren. And then you look at the Red Bull, who had ups and downs, but what has happened since the summer is clearly an understanding, or at least an exemplary of how you can find out what is not working and turning a campaign around massively. We have actually never been able to do that in four years.”
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