Toto Wolff is surprised by Mercedes' advantage.
During the tests, many called Mercedes the favorite for the upcoming season, which was confirmed by the qualifying session in Melbourne, where the team's drivers took the entire front row of the starting grid. However, team principal Toto Wolff assures that Mercedes did not hide their speed...
Toto Wolff: "I am so glad that clumsy ground-effect cars are a thing of the past, and we can do what we do best! Seeing the result, I felt relieved knowing how much effort we put into this project. The mechanics did an amazing job today. After Antonelli's crash, the car looked like a Lego set that had been dumped on the floor just two hours before qualifying. Five minutes before the session started, I told the mechanics that we wouldn't make it, but then Max went off the track, the qualifying was stopped, and we had extra minutes to prepare the car. Now everyone will say that during the tests we were putting sandbags in the car to hide our speed. In reality, you can't put in bags; otherwise, you'll never know where the car is. Did we have 10 kg more fuel in the car? Maybe. But we don't yet understand the car well enough to artificially weigh it down, so we are surprised by such a gap, but I accept it as a given."
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Toto Wolff is surprised by Mercedes' advantage.
Team principal Toto Wolff assures that Mercedes did not hide their speed...
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Toto Wolff is surprised by Mercedes' advantage.
Team principal Toto Wolff assures that Mercedes did not hide their speed...