F1 News: Toto Wolff pleased with 'encouraging' foundations for Mercedes

Toto Wolff, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell pose for a photo together, smiling — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Wolff pleased with 'encouraging' foundations for Mercedes

Toto Wolff has seen some positive signs from the new Mercedes car

Shay Rogers

Friday 1 March 2024 11:57

Toto Wolff remains positive about the benchmark that Mercedes’ new W15 challenger has set ahead of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

An ‘encouraging’ pre-season testing left Mercedes with plenty of optimism heading into the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

On top of this, Lewis Hamilton managed to top the timesheets during FP2 at the Bahrain GP, while team-mate George Russell put in the second-best time.

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Their car appears more settled on track, providing them with a better baseline to set the car up with, hopefully meaning more pace can be extracted from the W15.

This year is the longest season in Formula 1 history, with 24 races, leaving the Silver Arrows with plenty of time to develop their car and close the gap to Red Bull at the front.

Toto Wolff has led the Mercedes team for 11 years

The Mercedes 15 is showing positive progress on-track

Technical director James Allison has been heavily involved with the design of this year's car

Wolff optimistic on Mercedes' performance

Speaking after pre-season testing, Wolff appeared confident of his team's chances, having taken some ‘initial conclusions’ from the W15.

“A new season brings new opportunity and it’s exciting to be heading into a new campaign with all the drama it will inevitably bring,” said Wolff.

“Each of the last two seasons, we’ve headed to the first race of the year on the back foot. There was inherent goodness in the W13 and W14, but it often proved too difficult to unlock.

“Our main aim going into 2024 therefore was clear: create a consistent and stable platform. A car that would react as we expected,” he continued.

“After pre-season testing though, we can draw some initial conclusions. The drivers are much happier with the overall balance. The basic platform is working as we expected. The correlation to our simulations looks to be accurate. This is all encouraging. It’s a good foundation that we can build on.”

Their eyes are likely already on the first set of upgrades that will be introduced during the early section of the European leg of the season.

If they can make positive inroads, they may just have a chance at taking victories for the rest of the season.

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes George Russell Toto Wolff pre-season testing Bahrain Grand Prix