Mercedes has "no way of backing out" of 2022 plans to stop disastrous run - Toto Wolff

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Mercedes has "no way of backing out" of 2022 plans to stop disastrous run - Wolff

Mercedes cannot react to the disappointment of recent results

Sam Hall

Thursday 17 June 2021 05:00

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Toto Wolff has revealed Mercedes has already locked itself into development on 2022's car and cannot redirect resources to this year in reaction to a poor run of races.

Mercedes scored just seven points across two races in Monaco and Azerbaijan, the worst two-race total for the team in F1 since the end of the 2012 season.

However, with a strict budget cap in place for the first time and the team placing a large focus on the radically changed aerodynamic regulations for next year, team principal Wolff confirmed the predicament the team is in.

“We already readjusted the plan to 2022 and there is no way of backing out of it," he said.

"We will not change any decisions that we have taken strategically just because we had two really bad race weekends.

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"We knew that these two race tracks were probably the worst for us and I hope I am right with that assessment and let’s see how the European races go now.

“We have clearly these two absolutely below the standard that we set ourselves and the expectations that we set ourselves.”

Mercedes' dropped points unacceptable

After losing the lead of both the drivers' and constructors' championships, Mercedes dropped another 25 points behind Red Bull through Sergio Perez's Baku victory.

Max Verstappen's retirement coupled with Lewis Hamilton's zero score meant the gap in the drivers' battle remained at four points ahead of the French Grand Prix.

Wolff added: “I think there are lots of things that are not running as smoothly as they have in the past few years. Operationally it is not our ‘A-game’.

"We haven’t found the really sweet spot through qualifying and the race, having a quick qualifying car and a race car.

“There is just so much that we need to improve that I just want to get on it right now in order to make sure that we [are] actually able to compete for this championship because we can’t continue losing points like we have done in Monaco and here. It’s just not acceptable for all of us.”