Toto Wolff has shared Mercedes’ strategic plans to counter McLaren’s remarkable surge in performance, emphasizing the need for the Silver Arrows to step up their game and confront their Formula 1 competitors head-on.
Moreover, Wolff emphasized the myriad of positives that the current F1 campaign has offered to the team.
Following their decision to abandon the zero side pods concept at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Mercedes team is poised to embark on a well-defined development plan.
The Brackley-based outfit admirably fended off challenges from Aston Martin and Ferrari, securing a commendable second spot in the Constructor’s championship.
Toto Wolff, speaking to in-house media ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, stated: “We head to Hungary looking forward to tackling the double-header before the summer shutdown.”
“It has been an up-and-down first half of the year, but we can take several positives.
“At Silverstone, we outscored our closest competitors. We executed well on race day. We were able to race to the podium and extend our P2 advantage in the championship.
“However, the order is fluctuating almost every weekend. We need to keep adding performance if we are to close the gap to the front and fight for victories.
“Several teams have made big gains recently. This has brought some into the fight with us, especially McLaren. It has been impressive and gives us encouragement that we can also continue to find gains. We relish that challenge and will bring our own steps in due course.”
Expressing optimism and drawing inspiration from their past experiences in Hungary, Toto Wolff conveyed his hope that his team would harness the power of positive memories to demonstrate their true potential to the teams in their midst.
“The Hungaroring is a circuit that is quite different in nature to Silverstone,” he said. “It will be interesting to explore how our latest upgrades perform in the long-radius, slow-speed corners.
“We have good memories from Hungary last year, with George’s first pole position in F1 and a double podium for the Team. This race also marks a decade since Lewis’ first win with us, so it’s a circuit full of good memories.
“Hopefully we can have another strong showing this time out. We want to build on the positive momentum from Silverstone, and take the fight to our rivals.”