Do you know how a Formula One team succeeds in dominating the entire grid from the first race itself? By making proper targets and meeting them in the winter break. Whatever you do in the off-season decides if the team is going to dominate or if someone is paving the way. This year, looking at the optimizing level of Red Bull and how they won with a one-two finish, fans can figure out how hard they must have worked in the break-in preparing the RB19. They targeted something, and they perhaps achieved it. But today, we will not talk about Red Bull; we will discuss team Mercedes. On what basis did the Silver Arrows claim that they have matched all the targets made in the off-season?
Despite building a weak and downforce-lacking car, Mercedes’ principal Toto Wolff believes that during the break, the team achieved the targets they made for the making of the 2023 championship-winning machine. Given that the W14 could only give a few points in the season opener, one may perhaps say that Mercedes’ target was too low, or they actually did not realize that the rivals were getting extraordinarily strong. However, Wolff exclaimed, “We set ourselves very high targets, and we achieved them,” as quoted by RacingNews365.com.
Mercedes Needs A Change In Perspective When Making Targets, Claims Toto Wolff
Last year, Mercedes faced porpoising issues with the W13 silver livery. And so, the main target they set in the winter break was to overcome that, which the German squad did. Wolff explained, “The interesting exercise is figuring out the fact that all the targets we set collectively and the targets that we need to set perhaps need a perspective change.”
The one dream that Toto Wolff sees every day is winning every single race and continuing to win the championship year after year. But in reality, it is the “real challenge” which seems really interesting to the Austrian Mercedes boss. But this is also very much painful for him to realize the truth. He knows where Mercedes needs to go, where it should go. But it can’t happen because it asks a lot of data work and a re-establishment baseline to say, “This is where we are, and there is no surprise in the other paths,” said Wolff.
The Silver Arrows survived the humiliation of getting defeated by Red Bull with 21 race wins gaps last year. Ferrari surpassed them; it’s okay! But when Aston Martin comes from the back and leaves Mercedes behind, it is kind of intolerable for the 8-time constructor’s champion team. 2022 was difficult for the Silver Arrows, but it was still in the top three. And sadly, in 2023, Mercedes has been replaced by Aston Martin. The British team succeeded in claiming a third on the podium with the appearance of Fernando Alonso. They did what Mercedes could not: Copying Red Bull’s concept.
Speaking of which, Toto Wolff claimed, “Mercedes looked at other ideas and haven’t stood still.” Indeed, Wolff is looking for a different concept, but it will once again be unique. In the while, he is trying to do the previous one work with some upgrades.
