Toto Wolff annoyed with Mercedes TRAPPED in 'vicious circle'

toto wolff and Mercedes — Photo: © LAT Images

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Wolff annoyed with Mercedes TRAPPED in 'vicious circle'

The Austrian isn't sure which direction to turn to ahead of 2024

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 12 December 2023 18:57

Toto Wolff has revealed his alarm at the upturn in car performance for the likes of customers McLaren and Aston Martin in 2023, with his Mercedes team unable to make similar progress.

Coming off the back of a 2022 season in which they were able to claim a race victory and 17 podiums, Mercedes headed into 2023 hoping they could get closer to the dominant Red Bull team.

Despite managing to finish second in the constructors' championship as opposed to third, Mercedes didn't look like challenging for a race win the whole season, and only claimed eight podiums as Red Bull extended their advantage, and new competitors emerged.

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McLaren were inspired by an incredible turnaround in the second half of 2023, while Aston Martin managed to claim eight podiums of their own.

Andrea Stella and Zak Brown have seen huge progress from McLaren in 2023

Fernando Alonso managed to secure eight podiums in 2023 with Aston Martin

Toto Wolff has had to get used to his Mercedes team not being able to challenge for race wins

McLaren and Aston Martin's benchmark

Now, Wolff has explained the difficulties of trying to create a car that can bridge that gap next season.

"Aston Martin said that between the autumn car of 2022 and the start of 2023, [they found] two-and-a-half seconds," he told RacingNews365.

"They were pretty much last, and they were the second-quickest team at the beginning of the season. McLaren expected an upgrade of two-tenths and they got a second.

"The aero works completely differently, you have a ground effects car, which are aerodynamically more fragile, and on top of that, you put a tyre that you need to have exactly in the right window for it to perform.

"We're talking a few degrees up and down, and if you have a car that is predictable, that is stable, a good solid platform, you're struggling less in terms of sliding and degradation - it's a vicious circle."

Red Bull Mercedes McLaren Aston Martin Toto Wolff 2023