– Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff sticks to his team’s uncompromising performance philosophy. In his view, a fast car with occasional reliability issues is preferable to a reliable but uncompetitive vehicle. At the same time, he emphasizes that Mercedes now needs to get the existing defects under control.
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The Silver Arrows have clearly shaped the season so far. Mercedes secured pole positions at all nine Grand Prix, but occasionally had to concede to McLaren and Ferrari in the sprint qualifying. In the main races, they have so far recorded seven wins out of nine events.
Technical defects cost Mercedes two more wins
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However, two possible victories were lost due to technical problems. At the Canadian Grand Prix, George Russell retired from the lead due to an electrical defect. A few weeks later, teammate Kimi Antonelli suffered a similar fate at the Spanish Grand Prix when an electrical problem also took him out of the race while running in second place.
Most recently, at the British Grand Prix, a defect on the wheel cover of Antonelli’s Mercedes prevented him from seriously pressuring race leader Charles Leclerc. He dropped many positions and subsequently received a 5-second time penalty. As a result, he finished outside the points positions.
Wolff defends uncompromising performance approach
When asked whether the reliability problems are a consequence of the uncompromising pursuit of maximum performance and whether Mercedes should therefore act a bit more conservatively, Wolff explains: “We are an organization entirely focused on performance. We want to get the maximum out of both the chassis and the engine.”
The Austrian continues: “I prefer to hold back a bit on something that is really very good and fix some reliability issues, rather than chase performance. So far, we have won six out of eight races. I’ve lost count. And I prefer that to being slow and reliable.”
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When Wolff is pointed out that Mercedes has actually won seven of the first nine races of the season, he replies with a smile: “It should have been nine out of nine.”
Mercedes with strong reliability record despite setbacks
Despite the retirements, Mercedes remains one of the most reliable teams on the grid. With 5,215 race kilometers completed out of a maximum of 5,408, the team ranks second in this statistic behind Ferrari.
At the other end of the field is Aston Martin. The team has so far completed only 3,753 race kilometers and achieved just eight official finishes out of 18 possible Grand Prix starts. However, an improvement has been noticeable since the break in April. In the past six races, Aston Martin brought seven out of twelve possible cars to the finish, indicating progress in the reliability of the Honda power unit.
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Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Mercedes will now try to combine the vehicle’s high performance with better reliability. If successful, the team is likely to further strengthen its strong starting position in the fight for more wins and the World Championship.
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