Beat Red Bull? Not realistic, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said in a recent interview that they have no chance of beating the dominant Red Bull led by Max Verstappen this year. Although he says it’s not realistic, the German team will throw all their efforts into it.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, like last year, has not had an ideal start to the 2023 season.

Although the German team has stayed true to its technological concept from last year, it is clearly not delivering any great results.

The opening race of this season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, saw Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finish fifth and seventh respectively. In Saudi Arabia, the latter finished fourth, Hamilton again fifth.

In terms of performance, Mercedes is currently far behind Red Bull, with Hamilton even calling his car the fourth fastest in the field after the race in Bahrain.

In particular, however, Red Bull has recorded a double in both races this year, with Max Verstappen triumphing over teammate Sergio Pérez in Bahrain and the reverse in Saudi Arabia.

And it was in response to the Austrian stable’s dominant performances so far that Toto Wolff said it was unrealistic to beat Red Bull this year.

“We have only had two races this year. But is it realistic when we look at the performance gap? No, it’s not,” said the Mercedes boss, quoted by Racing News 365.

“We want to give it everything and see what the result is. Last year we managed to make up a lot of ground with a car that was jumping around too much, which in a way overshadowed everything. In the end, we won the race and got closer to them. I think we have to try to do that again,” he added.

F1, Racing News 365