Toto Wolff warns Mercedes ‘it will take time’ to turn early struggles around

Mercedes have been off the pace set by Ferrari and Red Bull over the first three races of the season

Toto Wolff says Mercedes have been hard at work since Australia (Getty Images)

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his team are ready to bring “improvements” into the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola this weekend but has admitted it “will take time” for the team to turn their early season struggles around.

Although Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have both secured podium positions over the first three races of the season, Mercedes have been considerably off the early season pace set by Ferrari and Red Bull.

Reliability issues with the Red Bull, which again struck in Australia last time out, have allowed Mercedes to take second position in the constructors, as well as with Russell in the drivers’ standings.

But those results on their own rather cover the fact that Mercedes have found it difficult to adjust to the new racing regulations this season, with porpoising - the aerodynamics and air flow under their W13 car - being a particular issue.

Mercedes have had time to work at those issue since the race in Melbourne but Wolff says conceded the race in Imola this weekend - which will see the first Sprint qualifying session of the season - may have come too soon for those improvements to make a difference in closing the gap to Ferrari and Red Bull.

“We know we haven’t got the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bull right now,” Wolff told the Mercedes website. “But we’re working hard to reduce their advantage, and it’s been brilliant to see everyone across the factories pulling together to achieve this.

“There’s been a lot of hard work over the Easter weekend in the factory to bring improvements to the car and get it ready to head to the next race, and that shows the team’s dedication to turning the situation around.

“Of course, we must be realistic, it will take time to make the gains we want, but we’re learning as much as we can from each race and finding avenues to push us forward.

“Now we look ahead to Imola and the first Sprint event of the season. It’s an historic, old-school circuit with a challenging layout that the drivers really enjoy.

“Qualifying is important owing to the narrow track, while its sweeping nature really puts the cars to the test. We’re looking forward to seeing how 2022 machinery tackles Imola.”