F1: No Mercedes updates to cars to avoid ‘confusing’ ourselves, says Toto Wolff
Mercedes have struggled to match the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull in the opening three races
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Your support makes all the difference.Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed the team will not make any updates to their cars ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The reigning constructors champions have been uncharacteristically lacking pace at the start of the 2022 season.
Due to the reliability issues Red Bull have suffered, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have still both managed to secure one podium place each. But Mercedes are yet to seriously compete for a victory this season and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has already built up a 34-point lead in the drivers’ championship.
Yet despite Mercedes needing to close the gap in order to start challenging for race wins, Wolff insists they will not entertain the idea of bringing new updates to Italy next weekend.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, he said: “I think we’re just learning the car, we’re learning the tyres. Nothing we did [in Australia] has unlocked the aerodynamic potential or has reduced the bouncing. We’re still at the same place.
“And that’s why it doesn’t make any sense to bring updates, because you’re confusing yourself even more. Maybe it’s the fact the more downforce you bring, the worse the bouncing gets. So we are still learning.”
Ferrari’s Leclerc claimed victories in Bahrain and Australia to open up a significant gap back to the chasing pack behind him.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the only other race so far this season in Saudi Arabia, but engine failures have seen him fail to finish elsewhere.
Along with Leclerc, Mercedes’ Russell has been the only other relatively consistent driver in the first three races, securing fourth, fifth and third place.
As a result, the 24-year-old sits second in the drivers’ standings, nine points ahead of teammate Hamilton.
Russell also recently preached the virtues of slow and consistent improvements rather than making changes which might upset the balance in the short term.
“We’ve got to go about the process analytically,” he said. “We can’t do anything crazy. We know we want results and we want performance but if we do anything too drastic, we’re going to go backwards and not forwards.
“We’ve got to trust our team, trust the process and just recognise that it’s going to take time. But we know there is so much potential in the car.”
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