Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says his team feels happier with their performance than they have for a “long time” thanks to their recent upgrades package.
The team that dominated Formula 1’s V6 turbo era for so many years have only enjoyed one grand prix victory since the technical regulations revolution at the start of 2022.
However, Mercedes currently sit second in the constructors’ championship on 167 points behind leaders Red Bull, 13 points ahead of closest rivals Aston Martin. Since introducing their first major upgrades package in Monaco, drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have combined for 71 points – more than any team besides Red Bull.
Wolff says the apparent success of the Mercedes’ upgrades is having a positive impact within the team.
“I think we can see the positive dynamic literally cascading, transcending, into the organisation,” Wolff said.
“We feel that the car is coming together, we see that our data yields results on-track and we haven’t felt that since a long time. That obviously contributes to this place being in a very good place.”
Mercedes have begun to move away from their car’s core design concept after the W14 had a disappointing start to the season relative to the team’s ambitions. Despite the limitations of F1’s financial regulations and aerodynamic testing restrictions, Wolff says he is confident Mercedes can make major changes to their 2024 car with what they have available to them.
“We have set up a huge organisation in our financial department of 46 people that monitors the cost cap down to the last screw,” Wolff explained.
“We look at the trend of our expenditure over all of the year. And what we’ve done is basically allocated resource to various projects. We’ve stayed below that line all year last year and we’re still below that line this year. That considers a ‘normal’, let’s say, development switch for next year and this is still pretty much on track.
“The good thing is that we’re constantly learning about what the car is doing. There is going to be some fundamental design changes for next year, but it’s not that we are building stuff. It’s more like ‘what we are simulating?’. But that is not measured in either money nor teraflops, nor wind tunnel hours.”
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