“It’s tough to take, super tough,” Wolff expressed to reporters as the day concluded, during which neither of his drivers managed to complete the race.
“And I would be lying if I could say I feel positive about the situation and optimistic but you just need to overcome the nagging, negative thoughts and say, ‘We will turn this around’.
“But today it feels very, very brutal,” he conceded, acknowledging the perplexing issues with the W15. “We’ve got to really dig deep,” he emphasized.
Subsequently, the Austrian conceded that as his team falls behind McLaren, with just one point ahead of Aston Martin, he comprehends those questioning his ongoing leadership at Mercedes.
“That was a disappointing race to end a difficult weekend. After taking a brave decision to start on the soft tyre, Lewis had made good progress initially but unfortunately, his race came to an end shortly after.
“There were times in the race where we massively lacked pace and then there were times at the end when you compare like for like where we were doing okay, we’re still, not where we want to be.
“Nobody feels positive about where we find ourselves right now, but we are focused on turning this around. It is tough to take but we will remain calm and composed. I also need to make sure that my contribution is positive. I would be the first one to say, ‘If somebody has a better idea, tell me’.
“I’m interested in turning this team around as quickly as possible,” he stressed.
“And I’ll happily give my input on what that would be, or who that could be. I look at myself in the mirror every single day about everything I do. If I believe that I should ask the manager question or the trainer question, I think it’s a fair question.
“It’s not what I feel at the moment that I should do, but if you have any ideas about who could turn this around, I would happily listen to them. I would be lying if I said at any moment I felt positive about the situation and optimistic.
“But you just need to overcome the negative thoughts and say, ‘We will turn this around’. We started this season in the belief that this car was better than last year. Today it feels very, very brutal. At the moment, it’s a very tough time.
“You look at last year and look at these guys, Leclerc crashed out and Sainz was fourth and got relegated to the outside of the top ten because of a penalty, and now they’re 40s ahead of us.
“We have seen others who have shown that when you get it right, things can turn around quickly,” He appended, specifically alluding to McLaren from the previous year. “That is what we are aiming to do. We have a physics problem, not a philosophical or organizational problem.
“We haven’t swallowed a dumb pill since 2021, we just don’t understand some of the behaviors of the car that in the past we would have done.
“On one side, I want to punch myself on the nose. On the other side, it’s a fact that when you get things right, you can turn it around pretty quickly and continue to believe.”
