Toto Wolff insists that he is not overreacting as he brands Bahrain performance one of Mercedes one of his team's worst ever days.

The Austrian stopped short of calling it a sh*t show, but that was clearly how he felt as he and his team's worst fears were realised.

While the Red Bulls were as out of reach as expected, and the Ferraris clearly had the edge, the Aston Martins also had the better of the W14, with Fernando Alonso almost playing with Lewis Hamilton, like a cat with a mouse, on his way to the final podium position.

"One of the worst days in racing," said Wolff at race end. "Really not good at all, we were lacking pace front, right and centre.

"That's the reflection of the testing, the Aston Martin is very fast and they deserve that. Red Bull is just on a different planet."

Having already vowed to go back to the drawing board - though nobody knows how far his team is prepared to go, Hamilton having dismissed talk of a B-car - the situation is all the more galling because the Aston Martin has 'borrowed' much from the Mercedes, stopping short at the controversial zero-sidepod concept.

Despite losing out to his Silverstone rivals, and Ferrari, Wolff admits that it is the gap to Red Bull that troubles him most.

"That is what hurts because they are so far ahead it reminds me of our best years when we would just put a second on everybody else," he said. "That is the benchmark, but we need to just put one step after another to just come back and we can do that.

"I'm not bullsh*tting myself and I'm not bullsh*tting the media," he insisted, the Austrian and his team having a dubious reputation for playing the underdog. "I have always been transparent and honest. What I'm saying here is how I feel right now. I'm not overreacting, the gap is very big and in order to catch up we need to make big steps. Not conventional ones."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Manama here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 07/03/2023 12:56

"@ Equator...on lap nine Russell asked team why Hamilton was so slow as he wanted to overtake him. Apparently he was told that Hamilton was struggling. Presumably he was told not to pass Hamilton....I guess. Seems fishy to me...."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by equator180, 07/03/2023 6:09

"In the first dozen laps it looked like Russel could have passed Hamilton, why didn't he?"

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by Tardis40, 06/03/2023 13:41

"Nothing lasts forever. No F1 team stays on top forever."

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by Lapps, 06/03/2023 7:52

"A few years ago we had the “green Mercedes “ perhaps Toto should give some thought to a “Silver Aston Martin”!"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

One of our worst, admits Wolff

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page