Toto Wolff urges Mercedes 'caution' after Lewis Hamilton podium

Wolff urges Mercedes 'caution' after Hamilton podium

Sam Hall

Thursday 27 April 2023 10:57 Updated: 12:02

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has conceded the Silver Arrows are 'cautious' not to get over-excited by Lewis Hamilton's P2 finish at the Australian Grand Prix.

Mercedes has endured a difficult start to the campaign with Hamilton securing the outfit's first podium of the year in Melbourne.

In order to address the pace deficit to championship leaders Red Bull, Mercedes has been working on a series of 'radical upgrades', some of which will be in evidence at this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

"We’ve had a few weeks off from racing but both factories have been hard at work," said Wolff.

"We’ve tried to maximise this period, bringing planned development to the car and extracting as much as possible from our learnings so far.

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"Australia showed that we are making progress, although we need to be cautious about reading too much into a single result.

"But the signs in Melbourne were still encouraging and that has been a good motivator for the whole team heading into this gap in the calendar."

Mercedes promise 'small, steady' development steps

Unlike the summer break, the originally unscheduled three-week break between Australia and Azerbaijan did not require teams to shut down for a period.

Although unable to test developments on the track, this has allowed teams to replenish stocks of spare parts and work on upgrades - many of which are expected to debut in Baku this weekend.

"Over the next races, we want to keep on making small steps forward," added Wolff.

"The car will continue to evolve in the coming weeks, as we steadily bring performance and upgrades to the track.

"We’re excited to see their impact, but we know there is no magic bullet.

"After just under a month with no F1 action, everyone’s eager to be back out on track.

"Thankfully we’ve got plenty of that coming up. It’s a busy window in the calendar with five races in six weekends, starting with Azerbaijan."