Mercedes boss Toto Wolff: The fight has only just begun

Mercedes

Wolff: The fight has only just begun

Mercedes made the best possible start, though.

Martin Macdonald

Tuesday 26 March 2019 17:42

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff isn’t getting carried away with the team’s start to the season after claiming maximum points in the opening grand prix of the campaign in Australia, insisting that he expects Ferrari especially to recover from their disappointing race in Melbourne.

The Scuderia were the most impressive team in testing in Barcelona, but could only finish fourth and fifth in the opening GP two weeks ago through Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.

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Mercedes, meanwhile, took first and second through Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, but Wolff isn’t using that result as a measuring point for the rest of the year.

"Claiming the maximum 44 points race from the first race was a fantastic result, we could not have asked for a better start to the season," the Mercedes boss said.

"But the fight has only just begun: Ferrari will try everything they can to hit back and Melbourne showed that Red Bull will have something to say in the fight, too.

"We've seen the potential of Ferrari's package in Barcelona, so we expect them to come back strong in Bahrain, with Red Bull in the mix as well."

Looking ahead to the “unique” race in Bahrain, Wolff reckons it is a struggle to deal with the changing times and climate from practice to qualifying then the GP.

"We will see a very different race in Bahrain, where the weekend presents unique challenges, especially the change in conditions between the sessions,” he continued.

"FP1 and FP3 take place in the middle of the day when both the air and the track can be very hot; FP2, Qualifying and the Race on the other hand are held in the evening in considerably cooler temperatures.

"These temperature swings make it very tricky to set up the car and find the right configuration for the sessions that really count.”

Mercedes are currently top of the constructor’s championship after the first race.