Wolff on winning Abu Dhabi: “Nothing is going to bring that championship back"

Lewis Hamilton lost the 2021 world championship to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances after former race director Michael Masi failed to follow the FIA’s sporting regulations at the end of the race.

Mercedes are without a victory so far this season, while Red Bull have taken 12 wins in 16 races.

Verstappen is on course to take his second title and could do so at the Singapore Grand Prix at the start of October.

Speaking to the media after the F1 Italian Grand Prix, Wolff was asked if winning at the Yas Marina Circuit in November would be “poetic justice” after Hamilton was robbed of the victory last year.

“Would it be justice? I think nothing is going to bring that championship back so wherever," he said.

Mercedes have performed best at high downforce, low-speed venues such as the Hungaroring and Zandvoort.

Singapore has similar characteristics to the aforementioned two circuits but its track surface is notoriously bumpy meaning porpoising could occur - something that plagued Mercedes in the early part of the year.

“I think the track layout should suit our car, the bumps not,” Wolff added. “So I hope on the simulations again say it should be one of our better tracks but I am trying to stay on the careful side with any predictions for Singapore.”

If Mercedes don’t win a race this year, it will be the first time since 2011 that they’ve failed to do so across an entire campaign.

Wolff remains hopeful they can despite a disappointing Italian Grand Prix in terms of outright performance.

“I think it would be awesome if we could win a race on merit without any grid penalties and I think if you would have asked us after Spa it would be impossible but after Zandvoort, we nearly won that one, and here, it was not that good,” Wolff explained. 

“I think that must be the target. We don’t want to end the season with no race wins, even if the sails are absolutely set for 2023. It would be quite a nice thing in a difficult season for all our people.”