Mercedes annus horribilis 'inevitable' - Wolff
Mercedes annus horribilis 'inevitable' - Wolff
Toto Wolff has claimed Mercedes 'annus horribilis' was an inevitability given the team's historic years of success.
The Silver Arrows missed out on the constructors' title for the first time since 2013 after a slow start to the year was compounded by struggles with both aerodynamic porpoising and mechanical bouncing phenomena.
The final upgrade of the season which was delivered in Austin pushed Mercedes back into contention for race wins, with George Russell delivering in Brazil.
Asked if he believed 2022 was his "annus horribilis", team principal Wolff told the 'Beyond the Grid' podcast: “In terms of performance, you can say that after eight consecutive constructors’ titles, coming out of the blocks and being half-a-second off - and I’m being rather on the optimistic side here - was certainly something you needed to get used to.
“We talked about it these last eight years, about how we would react to it if that were to happen. How would we cope with losing? We knew that inevitably, one day, it was going to happen, and here we are.
READ MORE...Mercedes and Hamilton combine to create history
“But I am particularly proud of the team, how we have recovered through the season because it wasn’t a one-race blip."
The Spanish Grand Prix in May, when Mercedes challenged Red Bull and Ferrari, proved to be a false dawn when the team's previous struggles notably reappeared in Azerbaijan.
"It wasn’t that there was a clear trajectory that was only going up," added Wolff.
"We had good races and then we fell back and at the end, we are much closer to our rivals, the front-running cars, than we were at the beginning of the season.”
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Hamilton in 's*** happens' outburst after huge China failure
- 20 minutes ago
F1 News Today: Alonso hit with China PENALTY as Hamilton endures Shanghai nightmare
- 33 minutes ago
F1 star PENALISED following controversial Chinese GP incident
- 1 hour ago
F1 Qualifying Results: Chinese Grand Prix 2024 times - 100th Red Bull pole as Hamilton crashes out in Q1
- 2 hours ago
Hamilton suffers CATASTROPHIC F1 qualifying after early exit
- 2 hours ago
Chinese Grand Prix qualifying red flagged after unusual HIGH SPEED crash
- 2 hours ago
Related news
Wolff left FUMING with Mercedes despite amazing Hamilton lap
Wolff 'p*****' by Verstappen error as star makes Mercedes debut
Hamilton to open Wolff talks at Mercedes amid Ferrari F1 move uncertainty
Mercedes announce MAJOR £5.9 million loss in profits
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860