Wolff demands “radical” change: “That is what hurts - worst day in racing”
Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and George Russell in seventh in the 2023 season opener but they were never competitive with race-winner Max Verstappen of Red Bull.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso even overtook Hamilton en route to claiming a podium finish, forcing Mercedes even further down the order.
“One of the worst days in racing,” team principal Wolff said to Sky. “Not good at all.
“We are lacking pace front, right and centre. That is a reflection of the test.
“The Aston Martin is fast, they deserve that. And the Red Bull is on a different planet.
“That is what hurts, because they are so far ahead. It reminds me of our best years, when we [were a second ahead] of everybody else.
“That is the benchmark. We need to put one step after another to come back. We can do that. We can, absolutely.”
A Mercedes upgrade to the W14 was touted for Imola (the sixth grand prix of the year) but Wolff insists that improvements cannot wait until then.
“No, it needs to be much more radical. More radical than just hope for an upgrade.”
Hamilton had criticised the concept of the new W14 after practice on Friday and, 24 hours later, Wolff confirmed that Mercedes would seek to rethink it.
Remarkably Aston Martin, the team who were rumoured to be developing quickly over the winter and confirmed their progress in Bahrain, are a team powered by Mercedes due to their technical partnership.
“They deserve to be where they are, because they did a fantastic job,” Wolff said.
“The good news for us, is that there is a lot of Mercedes in it. So we know how to pinpoint it to recover.”
Hamilton’s team radio message at the end of the first race of 2023 illustrated the scale of work to do but his faith in the team.
“Absolutely, he shows leadership,” Wolff said. “There must be a lot of suffering in there because the car is so unstable, you can see it on the steering wheel.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
