Reigning world champion, Max Verstappen would have life much easier this year than in 2021 according to Toto Wolff, the director of Mercedes F1.
The Austrian leader, who saw the Dutchman fight hard against Lewis Hamilton last season, believes that the Red Bull driver has the best single-seater of the 2022 season, when this was not necessarily the case last year .
“Last year, Max Verstappen was driving aggressively with a less good car and he became world champion,” commented Wolff.
“He now has the better car and everything has become easier for him. He is clearly on a roll.”
On the side of its pilots, some like Ralf Schumacher or Jacques Villeneuve have estimated that Lewis Hamilton could well lose his place of number 1 against George Russell. Are we heading for a changing of the guard?
“I don’t follow the comments of Ralf or Jacques,” replies Wolff.
“When I hear one or two remarks I can only smile. George does a good job, yes, but that’s what we expected of him, that’s why he’s in a Mercedes. Within the team, there’s nothing that reflects those outside noises, those comments made for the press. Lewis and George push each other, that’s all.”
While Verstappen will be aiming for a third straight win at Barcelona this weekend, Wolff is aware of how far Mercedes F1 still has to go in order to catch up with Red Bull and Ferrari.
“Barcelona will be interesting for us because we drove there with a fast car in February. We want to keep improving, and maybe we will be able to take another step. But we have to be realistic: we are still only third behind Red Bull and Ferrari.”
Did Mercedes F1 also seek to save weight with a lighter paint?
“We already have the lightest paint on the board on our car, and that’s a fact. We’ve been researching this for years. We’ve worked the weight of several parts but the paint is no longer an axis gain for us. Unless you take it all away!”