Mercedes must avoid 'swinging between mania and depression' - Toto Wolff

Mercedes

Mercedes must avoid 'swinging between mania and depression' - Wolff

The team's fortunes fluctuated over the USGP weekend

Ian Parkes

Friday 29 October 2021 05:00

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Toto Wolff has warned Mercedes against 'swinging between mania and depression' as it attempts to understand the vagaries in the performance of its car.

Mercedes endured a frustrating United States Grand Prix weekend as it initially finished a second clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in first practice and seemed set to build on its impressive record at the Circuit of the Americas.

But the team then struggled in the following sessions before being outpaced by two-tenths of a second in qualifying by Red Bull's Max Verstappen who went on to win the race ahead of Lewis Hamilton to open up a 12-point lead in the drivers' standings

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Suggested to Wolff Mercedes was now in the position it expected to be compared to Red Bull, he replied: “We need to be careful in the team that we are not swinging too much between mania and depression.

"We need to really eke forward with our understanding of the car. There was never a certain point where I thought ‘We are not going to make this’.

“But also, not getting ahead of ourselves after a day like Friday. The general feedback was that ‘You guys are dominating now and what is Red Bull going to do about it?’.

“Fast forward 24 hours and it had gone the opposite way. So I think it is really about exploiting the product - I call the car the product.

“How do we tune the product? How do we deliver the performance? That is what is going to make the difference between winning and losing.”

Bottas "a very strong contributor" in title fights

From ninth on the grid after being hit with another power unit penalty after taking his sixth engine of the season, Valtteri Bottas made up three places to finish ninth.

Mercedes' constructors' championship advantage, however, was cut to 23 points as Red Bull enjoyed seeing both drivers on the podium for the second consecutive race.

Wolff is convinced the Finn will have a key role to play in the destiny of both titles over the final five races before he then departs to Alfa Romeo next season.

"It was always very clear that it would be difficult from where he started because of the engine penalty to make it back to the sharp end," assessed Wolff

“He performed brilliantly in the last race [in Turkey] and I think he did very well [in Austin], so we just need to keep it up as a team.

"Both drivers need to score and I have no doubt Valtteri will be a very strong contributor to not only a constructors’ championship but also a drivers’ championship.”