Toto Wolff plays down talk of big Mercedes improvement at Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

A key Mercedes engineer had suggested there are some ‘easy gains’ to be made at the race this weekend but Wolff sounded less optimistic

(AFP via Getty Images)

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has dismissed suggestions from his own team that they are set to close the gap on Ferrari and Red Bull with an improved performance at the Saudi Arabinan Grand Prix this weekend.

The defending constructors champions have come into the new season struggling with the aerodynamics on their W13 following the overhaul of regulations, with both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell suffering from ‘porpoising’ due to the balance of the car.

It has left Mercedes short of the race pace set by Ferrari and Red Bull and although Hamilton was able to salvage a podium place behind Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, it was clear improvement is required in order to challenge for the title this year.

The short turnaround between the race in Bahrain and this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has left Mercedes with little time to make significant adjustments, but the team’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said there are “easy gains” to be made ahead of the return to Jeddah.

Shovlin told the F1 Nation Podcast: “There’s a lot to improve which gives us some encouragement. I think we’ll get some easy gains, there’s some low-hanging fruit and what we’re hoping is that we can get those in the next race or two.”

But Wolff, who said earlier this week that Mercedes would have to take a “chainsaw” to the W13 car, was less optimistic when asked about the improvements his team could make ahead of the second race of the campaign this weekend.

“We need to understand where we're lacking in performance,” Wolff told BILD. “The sooner we recognise this, the faster we will be.

“This is physics - and not mysticism. One issue that is definitely on our minds is speed on the long straights. But I don't expect any enlightening insights from the second race in Saudi Arabia.”

Speaking after the opening race of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit, Wolff spoke openly about the problems facing Mercedes. “I think we are running more drag, or we have the data that we are running more drag than anyone else,” he said.

“We can see we are losing on the main straight but not so much on all the other ones, so we need to make an assessment after the first couple of races to see if we are lacking power or deployment before we point fingers into some of the areas. Realistically, it’s about half a second we are missing on a single lap.”

This was also echoed by Shovlin, who admitted: “There’s bouncing, the balance is poor, there is a lack of low-speed grip, we’re struggling on traction, the drivability could be better, the tyre warm-up is not good enough, the car is a bit on the heavy side.”