Wolff calls for improvements as Mercedes trend turns

Toto Wolff is excited to see how Mercedes “bolts a car together” after a seasonal trend reversed during the Chinese Grand Prix.

The W15 machine had what Wolff called a “fundamental” problem in high-speed corners after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but the low-speed package was considered good and there appeared to be progress in Japan to fix this problem, as Lewis did Hamilton and George Russell had a strong Friday.

However, in China, Wolff described how the team's trend changed, setting a high pace in the high-speed sections of the track before losing time in the hairpins and the long opening sequence.

It was an equation that, in his opinion, left the team “back at square one.”

Mercedes fights reversed

“I think we have absolutely succeeded in doing that in the high-speed range [corners]” Wolff told the media RacingNews365 when asked whether the team needed to find more downforce overall.

“We were also super competitive in the peak times at Suzuka, it was just as good day and night as before and the drivers talked about it being the best car they had in the last two and a half years.”

“But then, [in China]We didn't really perform at low speeds.

“We gained half a second at high speed, but lost half a second at low speed, and this equation means we are back to square one.”

“It's something we need to improve, we're past the point of understanding, we just need to improve, it's got to get there.”

“We have all the facts on the table, we know what we optimized to solve the problem at high speed and we know where the car was before to be fast at slow speed.”

“Now we just need to put together a car that can do both – and we've seen those moments of performance, but overall we're just not good enough at this point.”