"I've had much harder times" - Mercedes 'has all it needs to be successful' in 2022 F1 season, feels Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff suggests Mercedes has all the elements it needs to be successful in its 2022 F1 campaign. Despite their poor start to the season, the Austrian team principal believes they have everything they need to end the season on a high.

Speaking in an interview with Square Mile magazine, Wolff said:

“I don’t think it’s challenging in a way because I’ve had much harder times in all of my life, not particularly in Formula 1, but this is actually within my comfort zone. I would say that I’m enjoying getting it wrong at the moment, because it’s the basis for long-term future success, I believe. We have had eight consecutive World Championships that hasn’t been done in any other sport. And I think I know why. All these facets have come together to make things more challenging at the moment.”

Admitting that Mercedes messed up their car design, Toto Wolff believes it is only a phase and not a long-term issue. The Silver Arrows team leader feels they have the ambition and drive as a team to succeed again. Suggesting that it is not a difficult period in his life, Wolff feels the right mindset plays a big role in helping them succeed and was positive about the rest of the season.

Claiming that the team has the ambition and the drive to succeed, Wolff said:

“At the end of the day it comes down to physics, and we got the physics wrong. We’re still the same group of people with the same ambition, energy, tools, funding. Maybe we need to tweak here and there, because psychology plays an important role, but I believe this team has all it needs to be successful, but with no sense of entitlement. I want this to be a blip and not a longer-term phase of not being able to compete at the front.”

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Mercedes believe 2022 F1 season could end in a three-way battle

Positive about the F1 grid bunching up, Toto Wolff believes that the second half of the 2022 season could witness more teams battling for wins and podiums. The Mercedes team boss feels his squad could be in the hunt for wins towards the end of the season, hinting at a three-way battle at some point.

Looking forward to the races left on the calendar, Wolff said:

“I don’t think this [car] concept is going to be miraculously one second ahead of everybody at the end of the season, but I think we can deem ourselves successful if we have caught up. Fundamentally, the field is going to come back together with diminishing returns – in this business that’s always been the case – so it’s going to be a three-way fight or maybe more teams vying for victory by the end of the season.”

With all the cars on the grid being developed aggressively, the Mercedes chief feels they could be front-runners towards the end. At the moment, they are third in the championship standings but not too far behind second-placed Ferrari.