‘Excuse me?’… Toto Wolff stuns interviewer with verdict on Mercedes form

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Mercedes’ run of three victories in four races before the summer break is starting to look like a false dawn. Following the season’s resumption, the Silver Arrows have fallen away from the victory fight.

They collected only 10 points at the Dutch Grand Prix, with George Russell seventh and Lewis Hamilton eighth following a Q2 exit. Monza only yielded 16 (Hamilton P5, Russell P7), then they picked up 17 in Baku (Russell P3, Hamilton P9).

That would suggest they’re on an upward trajectory, but they were fortunate at the end of the Azerbaijan GP as Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz crashed out. That gifted Russell a podium and Hamilton a points finish.

Even when Mercedes enjoyed their run of wins, there were question marks. In Austria, Russell picked up the pieces of the collision between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, and while they bagged a one-two in qualifying at Silverstone, Norris and McLaren had the superior package on race day.

They won that race because their rivals erred and they kept their heads. At Spa, Russell and Hamilton battled for victory – the latter picked up the 25 points when the former was disqualified – but they benefitted from Verstappen’s 10-place grid penalty.

The Dutchman had crushed the field in qualifying, suggesting that he likely would have won the race if he started at the front. Rather than making a lasting breakthrough, it seems Mercedes simply had luck on their side on a stronger sequence of tracks.

Toto Wolff suggests Mercedes see ‘advantages’ of finishing behind Ferrari

Mercedes’ post-summer slump has seen them fall 116 points behind Ferrari in the constructors’ championship. With just seven races to go, it’s increasingly likely that they’ll finish fourth.

This would be the team’s poorest showing since 2012, when Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher delivered fifth place. But speaking to OE24, team boss Toto Wolff didn’t sound overly concerned.

He said: “It’s not like we’re shouting: Hurrah, hurrah! In the constructors’ championship we are only fourth with little hope of third place. But that can also bring advantages.”

This seemed to surprise the interviewer, who replied: “Excuse me?”

“As fourth, we get more wind tunnel time, and that can help us a lot with development next year,” Wolff explained. “We’re talking about the year 2026…”

It may seem strange for a leader like Wolff to discuss the perks of underperformance, but that reflects the nature of the current F1 regulations. McLaren, who have outdeveloped Red Bull after their fourth-place finish in 2023, were the chief beneficiaries of the wind tunnel rule change this year.

Lewis Hamilton ignores ‘horror’ Toto Wolff message after Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Mercedes’ points hauls will likely improve once both of their drivers put together a clean weekend. Hamilton has started outside the top 10 in two of the last three races, the first through driver error and the second through an engine penalty, while Russell took damage in an early collision at Monza.

In Wolff’s radio message to Hamilton after the race in Baku, he admitted it had been a ‘horror’ race. The seven-time world champion hauled his erratic Mercedes into the points with a great deal of difficulty.

Hamilton seemed to ignore his team principal, which may point to his frustration. He frequently starts weekends in positive fashion before a difficult qualifying.

One journalist reckons that Hamilton disappears on Saturdays because he can’t switch the tyres on when the track is rubbered up. In this instance, it may be far easier to identify the problem than to solve it.