Toto Wolff believes that Adrian Newey will have 'hard times' solving Mercedes' issues

Since the start of Formula 1 2024 season Mercedes has been struggling to find a grip on the track. Despite making several changes in approach and downforce, the team has surprisingly failed to improvise their car. On the other hand, Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey has developed a blistering car that is winning back-to-back races for them. 

However, Mercedes team Principal Toto Wolff believes that Newey will also be unable to address the persisting issues of the Mercedes car. Speaking with Sky Germany Wolff admitted that Newey is a great engineer but will not be able to help Mercedes. He said, "He is an incredible engineer. But at the moment, even the greatest magician would probably have a hard time solving our problems."

"We changed the car but the performance is still not good enough. The others always take these steps forward and for us, it’s prolonged and unsatisfactory", he further added. 

"It's annoying to keep falling back", says Toto Wolff 

Further speaking about the impact of constant failures on the team Toto Wolff admits that it's annoying. “It’s hair-tearing. You just have to admit [it] and it’s annoying that we keep falling back into situations where the same problem keeps occurring, and that is that we overheat the rear tyres", he said. 

"No explanations, no excuses. It’s just not good enough. Just keep arguing, keep developing and hopefully get on the right track like McLaren did last year", he concluded. Despite making a significant concept change to its car last year, Mercedes has remained low in the F1 rankings. 

In the 49 races since the ground effect cars returned in 2022, Mercedes has only managed to win one grand prix. In the upcoming Miami Grand Prix team will come up with a new approach and minor changes and it will be keen to get to the podium.