Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff admits he is at a loss to explain his team’s miserable performance after they missed a chance to capitalise on a rare off day for Max Verstappen and Red Bull at the Australian Grand Prix.
World champion Verstappen retired from a race for the first time in two years when his brakes failed on lap four, leaving Carlos Sainz to lead home Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two just two weeks after the Spaniard had appendix surgery.
Mercedes, meanwhile, were nowhere in Melbourne. Engine failure compounded a weekend to forget for Lewis Hamilton, who has now made his worst ever start to an F1 season, while George Russell crashed out.
It left the Silver Arrows languishing fourth in the constructor standings and Wolff conceding that it was fair to question his position, even if his status as co-owner makes it highly unlikely that he would simply step down.
“I would be the first one to say ‘if somebody has a better idea, tell me’ because I am invested to turn this team around as quickly as possible,” he said.
“We have not swallowed a dumb pill since 2021. We don’t understand some of the behaviours of the car and in the past we would.
“I look at myself in the mirror every single day about everything I do and it is a fair question. But it [leaving] is not what I feel that I should do at the moment.
“I am not a contractor or an employee who has said I have had enough of this. My hamster wheel keeps spinning and I cannot jump out. I would be lying if I said I feel positive and optimistic about the situation. Today it feels very, very, very brutal.
“You see the progress that McLaren and Ferrari have made, so on one side, I want to punch myself on the nose. We have got to really dig deep because it is brutally painful.”
Hamilton has taken just eight points from the first three races of the F1 season, meaning he sits 10th in the driver standings, behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Hamilton was less upset than Mercedes boss Wolff
The Englishman was less downbeat than Wolff, however, perhaps in part because he will join a Ferrari team next year that already looks more likely to loosen Red Bull’s stranglehold.
“Surprisingly I feel pretty good. I’m trying to keep things in perspective because things could be so much worse,” Hamilton said.
“I’m still enjoying working with the team. We will eventually get there. It’s not great. I’m not happy. But I’m going to have a great day tomorrow.”
Lando Norris completed the podium for McLaren, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri. Sergio Perez was next for Red Bull, with Stroll sixth.