Toto Wolff: “Be careful not to overdo it”

The little sentence of Lewis Hamilton did not go unnoticed last week in Barcelona. The reigning world champion, resident of a stable Mercedes dominatrix since 2014 in F1, estimated during the last winter runs, that the Ferrari SF90 could potentially boast a half-second lead over the W10.

An assertion, despite the detailed statistics after these Catalan sessions, that it remains difficult to confirm, as is tradition during pre-season testing. And if ever Scuderia Ferrari were to benefit from a car more efficient than the W10, the German entity was able to manage a similar situation last year.

“Already last year we were behind Ferrari in terms of pure performance on several occasions and we had to surpass ourselves to win, remember Toto wolff, boss of Mercedes-AMG F1. We will have to dig deep within ourselves by optimizing everything because we are tackling our biggest challenge.

Be careful, however, not to want to do too much because there is a risk of getting lost.. I have the best team around me. We just have to proceed as usual, respect our schedule and give everything. There is a mountain to climb but we know how to do it. You don’t become five-time world champions for no reason.”

Remember that we had to wait until the fourth Grand Prix in 2018 and the Baku event to see Lewis Hamilton's W09 on the top step of the podium. Mercedes then chased Ferrari for a long time until the turn of the summer, before largely reversing the trend at the end of the season.

Discover our complete review of the 1 F2019 winter tests, carried out by our special correspondents in Catalonia, in issue 2206 of AUTOhebdo, available in digital version and on newsstands.