Wolff Regrets Not Maximizing Weekends When Mercedes Had Chance

Monday, 11 December 2023 at 19:00

Toto Wolff recently discussed the Grand Prix races in 2023 that the Mercedes Formula One team could have won but didn't.

The Mercedes F1 team started the season far behind Red Bull Racing. Lewis Hamilton, a faster Mercedes driver in Bahrain, crossed the finish line 50 seconds after Max Verstappen.

The team then decided to change the concept of its car and gradually closed the gap to Red Bull over a period of a few races to the point where Mercedes was faster than the team from Milton Keynes on a few occasions.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff sees the 2023 season as progress compared to the 2022 season, even though his team is not where he would want it to be. He told the media;

"From a Team Principal's role, the sporting side has been tough, because last year, for a long-time, we didn't understand why our car was so bad, but this year, albeit it was not so much fishing in the dark, but we couldn't capitalise in terms of race results."

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The Austrian believes Mercedes could have won the United States Grand Prix, where Hamilton finished right behind Verstappen, but got disqualified after the race.

Even though Mercedes was not anywhere close to the win in Sao Paulo, Wolff is convinced the race in Brazil could have been different with the knowledge Mercedes has now.

"I think particularly in Austin, we could have had a win, but we made mistakes, we had an off weekend in Brazil, where we can absolutely reconstruct what happened, and it is not what would happen to a top team."

Mercedes was said to be the quickest car in Singapore - the only race that Red Bull didn't win in 2023, but the win still slipped through their fingers.

On the other hand, even through everything that didn't go Mercedes's way in 2023, the team principal sees this season as a season of "moving forward" needed to compete for the title in the near future.

"We also had the quickest car in Singapore - but the results don't show it, but it was a year of let's say moving forward with the car and understanding for next year."