Toto Wolff hopes to 'take another step forward' at Barcelona

Optimism is back Mercedes. and at Toto wolff, before the Spanish Grand Prix. The Miami weekend gave the Silver Arrows some reasons to smile again. The director of the German team wants to take the Floridian Grand Prix as a first reference this season. “With the third fastest car, we extracted as many points as possible in Miami. (…) During Friday testing, the car showed its true potential at times. We continued to experiment with the set-up, installed new components and this provided us with answers and guidance on which direction to take. »

On the new Miami track, George Russell again scored big points with a fifth place at the finish. Lewis Hamilton, long in the top 5, was finally trapped by the safety car and finished 6th. A double finish in the top 6...and on a regular basis: Mercedes has established itself as the third force in the field in the United States and intends to continue this dynamic. “A huge amount of work was carried out in the factories to extract the data from Miami and transform it into developments for Barcelona. We have already driven there during winter testing, but with a car that has evolved a lot since then. »

Plagued by problems in applying data from simulations on the track, Mercedes is counting on the Barcelona track to finally have real points of comparison. “ This will be a good place to correlate the information we have about the current car and hopefully we will take another step forward. »

“We are at the end of the first quarter”

In recent years, the Catalan circuit has not been the most conducive to overtaking. The fault in particular of the last chicane before the long straight. In the past, qualifying therefore had a crucial importance in the course of the weekend. But with the new ground effect single-seaters, the cards could be redistributed in Spain according to Toto Wolff. “The track itself is versatile, so it really puts every aspect of the car to the test. This has never been a good track for overtaking, so it will be interesting to see how these new cars F1 2022 will have an impact on the track show. »

Far from counting on the first four races of the season, Mercedes sees the Catalan round as the test of truth. The German team, which focused on an extreme aerodynamic concept with very thin sidepods, will know at the end of the Grand Prix if this direction was the right one. Toto Wolff does not admit defeat, and prefers to use a “basketball” metaphor to show his ambitions. “We head towards Barcelona like it’s the end of the first quarter of a match. We know that once we translate what we've learned into actual performance on the track, there will still be plenty of playing time left..."

Mercedes arrives in Spain having achieved pole position each time since the start of the hybrid era in 2014. Lewis Hamilton remains on 5 consecutive victories in Montmeló. A hegemony in danger but which gives reason to hope for the Silver Arrows.

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