Toto Wolff admits that if making the Mercedes look like a Red Bull or even a London bus is what is needed get to the front again, he will do it.

The Austrian was speaking after his team trailed Red Bull once again - and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin - but at least finished ahead of the Ferraris.

Having said following the season opener that Mercedes would return to the drawing board, in the aftermath of Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix he shed a little light on how challenging for wins again might be achieved.

"If you look at the Red Bulls, they are just so quick," he told Sky Sports. "But I think we understand the car more and I'm looking optimistically to the future.

"We just need to put it in a different window," he continued. "We're changing the bodywork of the car, how the floor works, all of these things, mechanically we're looking at certain areas. The team in Brackley is flat-out.

"We headed into one direction last year and we wanted to have it work. It worked and it got better and better. But now, coming out this year, we really realised it's a dead-end street.

"These are the facts and everybody knows that now," he added, "so we turned around and we are running fast out of that dead-end street. We can see them (Red Bull), they're just far away at the moment."

Asked whether the revised car will bear a resemblance to the RB19, he replied: "I don't know, you can call it a Red Bull or Aston Martin concept. But at the end, if it would look like a double-decker bus, we would do it if it was fast.

"They can put a little sticker, Red Bull, (on the car) if they want to have it," he laughed. "It's just about raw performance. We have no dogma on who invented it.

"I think we're making big elephant steps at the moment, going forward. It's going to be a long time until they are adequate to challenge Red Bull, but it's a super-fun journey to climb back."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Max Noble, 23/03/2023 9:51

"As per PitPass article - his problem is he will hit the cost cap before he fixes the problem… Or. Will. He!? Refer previous articles on where costs can be “legally” placed within a corporation to remain within the budget cap. I’ll be fascinated to see where this lands. Great story for the season given V. Max is going to walk it."

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2. Posted by kenji, 22/03/2023 21:31

"Wolff is all bluster ATM as I doubt that he can follow up on his claims. MB are in a hole and they are proving to be somewhat unable to climb out of it. That said, they are still fielding a very fast car, one which many of those behind would love to have. I would not underestimate their abilities to improve markedly by mid season but the big question is timing and affordability? "

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 22/03/2023 14:09

"Sadly true, unless by some miracle an affordable[sic] change boosts their performance by 1.5 sec a lap...."

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4. Posted by Max Noble, 22/03/2023 12:13

"As per excellent cost cap article on this finest of sites; Toto cannot respond as he wants because he will run out of dollars… even given all the “nothing up this sleeve” antics outlined in previous cost cap articles. He cannot catch up.
"

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Whatever it takes, vows Wolff

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