Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes Ferrari’s lack of pace during the Italian Grand Prix suggested the Scuderia has taken a “step back” as their championship battle took another twist.
The Anglo-German team was always expected to be the heavy favourite at the ‘Temple of Speed’ as their engine advantage and a lack of emphasis on the tyres played to and against the respective strengths and weaknesses of Mercedes and Ferrari.
And so it proved, as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished over half a minute clear of Sebastian Vettel in third and that also included them turning down their engines after just 20 or so laps.
But given how close the fight between the two teams was at Spa a week prior, Wolff admits he was taken aback by just how dominant his team was at their main rivals home race.
“For me, it looks like this weekend Ferrari has made a step back, somehow,” he commented afterwards. “I think we were very solid, but they haven’t performed in the way everybody expected.
“Red Bull started from the back of the grid, almost finishing in P3, [so] there’s just something that is out of sync here, something is not how it should be, so I can understand [if] they’re upset about it.
“This morning, based on the Friday long runs, we thought they would be closer, considering their Spa performance. I cannot tell you what the gap was [on the pre-race analysis] but certainly, 30 plus seconds is something that is an outlier.”
Regardless of Ferrari’s lack of performance, the Austrian was also keen to emphasise the ongoing improvements being made by Mercedes believing they can now become the class of the field at any circuit in any conditions.
“I think that the job the guys did analysing the deficit that we had in Spa was very awesome,” he said. “Straight from the get-go [at Monza] we had a car that was really solid, and good to drive.
“During yesterday’s qualifying, there were so many opportunities to make a mistake and the car was good from the get-go, lots of grip, good margin. It was the same today; we proved that we have recovered well from Budapest and also in a certain sense from Spa, and are progressing with the car.”
