Mercedes boss Toto Wolff concedes 2026 'the most realistic opportunity for any other team to beat Red Bull'

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said that the 2026 F1 season might be the most realistic opportunity for any other team to beat Red Bull due to the new regulations coming into effect. The ground effect era has been all about the Austrian team as it has dominated from the beginning.

It all started in 2022 when Red Bull and Max Verstappen got the jump on the entire field. Since then, competitors like Mercedes and Ferrari have been playing catch-up as the gap to the front has been too big. For Toto Wolff, the era has been far from fulfilling. His team has only one win since the regulations changed which is a far cry from the 8 consecutive titles it won from 2014 to 2021.

The most recent race in Suzuka was another example of how big a gap there is between Mercedes and the front-running Red Bull. The German team could only finish P7 and P9 while Max Verstappen won the race with ease.

As quoted by PlanetF1, Toto Wolff conceded that the most realistic opportunity for any team to challenge the Austrian squad is going to come in 2026 when the regulations change. Reflecting on another disappointing weekend, Wolff said,

“We are in this bunch but it is not satisfying for any team that is fighting for P2 and P3, or P4. If I was to look from a purely sporting point of view, P1 is what matters, not P2, P3 or P4, but this is a reality we are facing at the moment."

He added:

"We’re trying to do the best out of this new reality, and that is to beat our direct competitors, whilst acknowledging that somebody is just doing a better job and is setting a benchmark that we eventually need to set ourselves again. Our ambition is to win races this year, and I wouldn’t want to let that ambition go, certainly not next year. But ’26 there’s a big reset which certainly provides the most realistic opportunity for any other team to beat Red Bull."

Mercedes fighting for P2, just like last year according to Toto Wolff

The Mercedes boss proclaimed that no team was going to challenge Red Bull this year and Max Verstappen is going to win the title again. The Austrian team has now picked up three '1-2' finishes in the first four races and holds a comfortable lead over the chasing pack with Ferrari being the closest challenger.

Toto Wolff however felt that the gap to the front was just too big and every other team, be it Ferrari, Mercedes, or McLaren was only trying to finish second behind Red Bull. He said,

“No one is going to catch Max this year. His driving and the car, just spectacular. I can see how he manages the tyres. Basically this season now is best of the rest. That’s the fight, that’s all. Hopefully we can catch up to the McLarens and to the Ferraris, and fight for P2. This is what it is this year, and what it was last year and we were P2 last year.”

The start of the season has not been the best for Mercedes, the car has not threatened the front in any race and it does appear to have some characteristics that the team is yet to fully understand.