“It’s going to be a tough test”: Toto Wolff calls for patience with upgrades amid Mercedes’ poor start to season

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff claimed that it would be a stern test for them at Imola as the track is fast and challenging and does not give any respite if someone makes a mistake. The German team will bring the second half of their upgrade this weekend as they push to make the W15 more competitive.

The former world champions had brought some upgrades in Miami a couple of weeks back which gave them some performance gains that they were expecting and enabled Lewis Hamilton to finish in P6 while challenging the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Imola GP, the Mercedes team boss spoke about the challenges of the track despite the sport returning to a normal format after back-to-back Sprint races. He said (via Formula Passion):

“After two consecutive Sprints, we return to the 'classic' format this allows us to have more time to refine the tuning, but Imola is still a challenging circuit that puts both the car and the pilot to the test."

"It has several fast and sliding sections, but also some low-speed curves and an insidious and slooky asphalt. It is narrow, which makes it difficult to overtake, and has many altimetric variations. It's going to be a tough test.”

Mercedes team boss chimes in on the not so 'straightforward' start to the 2024 season

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff stated that it had not been a 'straightforward' start to the 2024 season but they have gotten a 'clear understanding' of their deficiencies after six races. He also spoke about the need to improve their results.

Wolff told the media(via Crash.net):

“We are now one-quarter of the way through the season. The first six races were not easy, but we clearly understood where we need to improve and we charted a clear path. It will take several races before we see the fruits, but everyone is working hard to get them as soon as possible."

The Austrian emphasized patience on the part of their supporters as they would take 'several races' to see the results of their fully upgraded W15, adding:

“It will be several races before we see this bear fruit, but everyone is working hard to bring them as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will be looking to maximize the package we have. We are bringing some more updates to Imola and hopefully, they push us in the right direction."

Mercedes are currently 60 points behind McLaren in their fight for P3 in the Constructors' championship and have not been able to match the performance of their custom team so far.

They have scored 64 points thus far with George Russell's P5 in the opening race of the season in Bahrain as the highest finishing position in 2024.