Toto Wolff doubts raised as pundits question Mercedes chief over worrying claim

15 November 2023 , 14:22

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Toto Wolff was critical of Mercedes' W14 car after the Brazil race (Image: PA)

Several Formula 1 pundits have questioned Toto Wolff for his criticism of Mercedes' W14 car after a dismal Brazilian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton finished the Sao Paulo race eighth while George Russell had to retire with an oil temperature problem. Tyre management issues throughout the weekend meant Mercedes, who have generally been good for race pace this year, were not in the fight.

Wolff, emotional after the race, gave a rather bleak verdict after the "inexcusable performance". He said: "There are no words for that. That car finished second last week and the week before and whatever we did to it was horrible.

"Lewis survived out there but George... I can only feel for the two driving such a miserable thing. So it shows how difficult the car is, it's on a knife's edge. We've got to develop it better for next year because it can't be that in seven days of finishing on the podium with a solid, quick car, you're nowhere."

Sky Sports F1 pundit Naomi Schiff is not convinced things at the team are as bad as the Austrian suggested. "Overall, of course, it was not a great weekend for them," she said. "They lacked pace, they were obviously using up the tyres a lot more than the majority of the teams around them – something that is very uncharacteristic for their car. So they were unable to use the tyres in the way they wanted and, on top of that, they had reliability issues.

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"So there were a lot of things going wrong for them. But, if you look back just two races, they had two podiums in two races and that car was moving forward in a positive trajectory. So I think, although it was quite a dramatic result for them, it does just seem like it may be a one-off.

"I don't know if we should take Toto's reaction with a bit of a pinch of salt. I think it was quite a pessimistic outlook on a weekend that, of course, didn't go the way they wanted it to at all. But are they really in that dire of a situation right now? I think recent history shows that they aren't in such a terrible place."

Tom Clarkson, host of the F1 Nation podcast, agreed that Wolff was overreacting. "Their team principal Toto Wolff described the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as their worst weekend in 13 years," he said. "Now, I think he's exaggerating the point. I thought they weren't particularly good in Austria this year. I thought Singapore last year wasn't a great one."

Former F1 racer Pedro de la Rosa agreed, responding: "Yes, I mean, there is this phrase I love, which says, 'What people do and what they say they do are entirely different things'. I think that Toto was extremely harsh on the car especially, but I'm pretty sure that they will turn up in Las Vegas, they will have done their homework and they will be fighting for a race win again.

"Let's not forget that Lewis was second in Austin. Okay, he was disqualified, but he was second. He was also flying in the past few events since they introduced the new aero package. So let's wait and see. I'm pretty sure that, if they win the next one, they will say that this car deserves a win."

Daniel Moxon