Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff WRITES OFF 2024 season after four races

Thumbnail video about Wolff on Verstappen — Photo: © IMAGO

Mercedes

F1 boss WRITES OFF 2024 season after four races

An F1 team boss has already written off the 2024 season after four races.

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Wednesday 10 April 2024 13:57

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A Formula 1 team boss has already written off his team's 2024 season, despite there only having been four races.

Red Bull have achieved one-two finishes in three out of four races this season, with Max Verstappen winning all three of those.

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Their only issue thus far was at the Australian Grand Prix, where Verstappen retired after a right rear brake failure caused a spectacular explosion on his RB20.

On the other hand, former championship rivals Mercedes have endured a difficult start to the season, with Lewis Hamilton describing it as his 'worst ever start' to an F1 campaign.

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff part ways at the end of 2024

Toto Wolff writes off 2024 season

Mercedes have not won a race since the Brazilian GP in 2022, where George Russell achieved a maiden victory.

A further blow came to the team when seven-time world champion Hamilton announced he was leaving the team for Ferrari in 2025.

The German team have not just fallen behind Red Bull in 2024, but also lack performance compared to rivals Ferrari and McLaren. Now, Wolff has suggested that the team are already fixated on the future following their difficult start to the season.

“No one is going to catch Max this year,” the Austrian said after the Japanese GP. “His driving and the car are just spectacular.

“You can see the way he manages the tyres and basically this season now is best of the rest.

“That’s the fact, that is all, but hopefully we can catch up to the McLarens and to the Ferraris and fight for P2. This is what it is this year and what it was last year and we had a P2 last year.

“If I was to look from a pure sporting point of view it is P1 which matters, not P2, P3 or P4, but this is the reality that we are facing at the moment.

“We’re trying to do the best out of this new reality and that is to beat our competitors whilst acknowledging that somebody is just doing a better job and setting the benchmark that we eventually need to set ourselves again.

“In 2026 there is a big reset that certainly provides the most realistic opportunity for any other team to beat Red Bull but there is one and a quarter seasons until then and I don’t want too much suffering in the next 18 months.”