Toto Wolff admits it is “painful” not seeing Mercedes involved in the “fun games” at the front amid a tough start to the 2022 Formula 1 season.
Though Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished third and fourth in Bahrain, porpoising issues have left the eight-time defending Constructors’ champions fighting to stay ahead of the midfield rather than battling for wins.
In the push to find solutions, Mercedes admit they actually went “too far” on set-up with Hamilton’s car in Jeddah last weekend, causing the Briton to suffer his first Q1 exit since 2017 and only finish P10 on race day.
“Right now we are not fighting for the top step, we are still far off the guys who are ahead and we’ve got a lot of work to do. It feels like a long way away,” Hamilton conceded.
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“We need more grip and we need more power. I don’t particularly feel like much has changed really since the last race, it’s only been a few days.
“What I know is that today I couldn’t keep up with the Haas at the end, the power they have, they came flying, slingshotted past me, when I overtook [Kevin] Magnussen earlier on in the race.
“So we’ve got a lot of work to do for sure, but I know I’ve got a great team and we’ll just keep our heads down and try to improve.”
Teammate Russell did maximise his race to finish fifth albeit still over half a minute behind Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc who had their own mighty duel for the win.
And Wolff acknowledged the fall Mercedes has taken, with its days of dominance currently very much over.
“We were right in the middle of those fun games at the front for the past eight years, and talking as a Formula 1 stakeholder we’re benefiting from a great show that is really spectacular to look at,” Wolff said of the current Ferrari/Red Bull duel.
This is a marathon, not a sprint and we are more determined than ever to get ourselves back fighting at the front. ? pic.twitter.com/05BX9H3RDq
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 29, 2022
“On the other side, it is extremely painful to not be part of those fun games by quite a chunk of lap time deficit.
“We’re not going to rest until we are back in the mix. It is no fun at all and an exercise in humility. It’s going to make us stronger even though it’s not fun right now.
“For me, feels a little bit like 2013, where we just weren’t up to the speed with the Red Bull, and probably also not with the Ferrari, but we kept fighting, and this is how I feel at the moment,” he added.
“We need to fight. It is certainly totally unacceptable where we are on performance. We’re third on the road, sometimes not, even, like today.
“It’s just not an option to stay where we are.”
