Mercedes Team Principal 'Super-Excited' For First Race In Bahrain

Sunday, 24 December 2023 at 11:00

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted a huge task awaits his team, but is super excited for the first race in Bahrain.

Mercedes finished "only" second in the Constructors' Championship in 2023. While Toto Wolff admitted it has been more important for the team than he thought, the ultimate goal of the German team was always to win the title.

The only way to win the title is to build a faster car, and the team principal believes his drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, are capable of delivering the results.

At the end of the season Q&A session with fans, the Mercedes team principal outlined what he believes to be the biggest challenges going into the next season.

“"It's to set the expectations right because we have a huge mountain to climb. There's a team that is so successful and we have a big gap to close."”

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The car seems currently to be the most significant issue for Silver Arrows. Wolff believes his team is making the right steps to building a title-contending car, but he won't know until the first race of the season.

Ferrari's team principal hit the nail on the head when he explained it's not about the progress that a single team makes, it's about how the team's advancement compares to the progress of its rivals. Wolff continued:

“"At the same time, I believe we've taken some proactive steps to close that gap. Is it going to be good enough? I don't know. But we're going to see it in testing and then in the first race in Bahrain."”

The Austrian team principal shared he was already excited for the first race of the season: "I'm super excited. I'd like to start going now. It's the stopwatch that's going to tell us what job we've done."

Three F1 teams already revealed their 2024 car launch dates, but we are still waiting for Mercedes' announcement. The team principal warned about great changes to the car, so we can't wait!