Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Aston Martin can act as inspiration after a chastening start to the 2023 season for the former World Champions.
Mercedes was only the fourth-fastest team in both qualifying and the race in Bahrain as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were unable to mount a front-running challenge.
Hamilton finished 50 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen, was overhauled in the race by a slow-starting Fernando Alonso, and was unable to threaten Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for fourth.
Mercedes’ display through the weekend in Bahrain prompted Wolff to concede that it was wrong to stick with its concept when designing the W14 and admitted that upgrades coming for future grands prix are unlikely to deliver the desired gains.
Aston Martin suffered a dismal start to 2022 but revised its concept after a few rounds and re-emerged in Formula 1’s midfield, before making a leap forward in Bahrain, with Alonso claiming a podium.
Aston Martin has a close relationship with Mercedes, with the AMR23 utilising a Mercedes power unit, gearbox and hydraulics – among other components – while the team uses Mercedes’ windtunnel while it waits for its new facility to be online in 2024.
“If you look at where we were at the end of last season, where it seemed like we had caught up a lot and it was just a matter if which circuits suited us and which not, I think we almost doubled, if not tripled the gap to Red Bull,” said Wolff.
“This is what we need to look at. Everything between: Ferrari or Aston, that’s just a sideshow.
“Having said that, what Aston Martin was able to achieve is a good inspiration because they came back from two seconds off the pace to being the second quickest team on the road.
“With us, everything is bad. Maybe the single lap pace was still good, but in the race we saw the consequences and, to put it bluntly we were lacking downforce and when you are lacking downforce you are sliding the tyres, and when you are sliding the tyres you are going backwards.”
Wolff affirmed that Mercedes will have to take risks if it wants to eventually return to a position where it can compete for titles.
“First of all, I’m not bullshitting myself and I’m not bullshitting you guys [the media],” said Wolff.
“I have tried all these years to be transparent and honest. What I’m saying here is how I feel right now.
“I’m not overreacting or underreacting; as a matter of fact the gap is very big and in order to catch up we need to make big steps, not conventional the ones by adding a few points each week, because everyone is going to do that.
“We have lost a year in development and in order to develop the car you just need to take these decisions.
“As I said before, Aston Martin took the decision and they came back strong. So if we start from our base maybe we can come back strong and chase the Red Bulls. That’s the ambition.”
