Wolff: The behavior of these machines is difficult to model.

      After Friday practice in Austin concluded, Toto Wolff, head of the Mercedes team, admitted that it's quite difficult to talk about expectations for the United States Grand Prix and explained why...

      Toto Wolff: "We didn't expect to win in Singapore, because the nature of that circuit turns the race into a series of acceleration and braking phases, all in hot conditions. In such cases effective tyre management is not our strong suit, however George Russell dominated throughout the race, the car worked brilliantly, and Kimi Antonelli also put in a good performance.

      Overall, I'm not yet sure what results to expect in Austin. You can't set the car up with a very low ride height here because of the bumps on the track.

      Making predictions is not easy, because, for example, George made an interesting point: he said that if at the start of the season I had asked him to name the race where he had the best chance of winning, Singapore would have been last on that list. And then he went and won that Grand Prix in brilliant style. So it's all confusing.

      We really don't know which of the three or four top teams will win. No one can say for sure how the car will behave at a particular circuit. No one is certain to what extent the calculations obtained on simulators correspond to what happens on the real track.

      All of this is strange, because ground-effect cars tend to behave in ways that are sometimes simply impossible to model even using the most advanced tools that very capable specialists work with. But sometimes we manage to set the car up correctly on Friday, and if we don't, then we have to change all the settings completely. In short, there are plenty of challenges."

      With Formula 1 moving to a new technical regulations in 2026, Wolff does not hide that he is pleased by the prospect, because the current-generation cars will be a thing of the past:

      "I'm very glad that we'll finally get rid of these cars and return to a more understandable aerodynamic configuration, one that's easier to figure out — at least I hope so."