"We need to stay humble" - Mercedes boss 'a little bit pessimistic' despite securing their best results of the season at 2022 F1 French GP

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is pessimistic about the team's performance despite clinching a double podium result at the 2022 French GP. The Austrian felt that there was still a huge gap between them and the front runners in terms of pace.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Wolff said:

“We need to stay humble. Our car is just not good at the moment to fight with the guys in front; I’m always a little bit pessimistic because I need to be. We’re just lacking six or seven tenths to the leaders and whilst we have stabilised in the race and Verstappen hadn’t been gaining more ground, he was also looking after his tyres.’’

If it wasn’t for Charles Leclerc’s retirement, Mercedes would not have had more than one car on the podium. Wolff feels their car still lacks six or seven tenths of a second of pace to Red Bull and Ferrari. He believes that Max Verstappen was preserving his tires due to which the gap looked lesser. However, the Austrian felt his drivers performed at the maximum level and the team put in a great effort.

Applauding his team and driver’s efforts, Wolff said:

“Overall the team effort was great, the drivers did a really good job. George [Russell] was clever and fast, Lewis [Hamilton] the lion who was just always there. We’re doing the maximum at the moment on race day.”

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Mercedes believes the gap to the front was appalling

Mercedes' Director of Trackside Engineering, Andrew Shovlin, believes that the team achieved the best race result of the year with both its drivers on the podium. However, the Briton feels that the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari in Qualifying was alarming and that they still have more work to do until Budapest.

Speaking after the race in a team press release, Shovlin said:

“That was our best race of the year and really pleasing to see both drivers racing at the front. The weekend hasn’t been easy, our qualifying positions weren’t far off expectation, but the gaps to Charles [Leclerc] and Max [Verstappen] were eye opening.We’d hoped that the car would be kind on the tyres today, the conditions were very tough given the circuit and the temperature but degradation was good and whilst we are lacking a bit of pace, we at least seemed a bit stronger towards the end of the stints.”

Looking ahead at the Hungarian GP, the Mercedes engineer said:

“We’ve only got a couple of days to try and regroup and prepare for Budapest. Hard work has got us to a level where we can fight for a place on the podium but we want to be fighting for the top step. We’ve got one race to go before the summer break so we will be pushing hard to try and finish the first half of the season on a high note.’’

Ferrari’s hard luck with Charles Leclerc’s retirement and Carlos Sainz's fifth place was a window of opportunity for the Silver Arrows squad. However, in terms of pure pace, Mercedes' performances from Friday and Saturday were a more accurate indicator of its pace compared to that of its rivals. Despite this, the German team is inching closer to Ferrari in the constructors' championship thanks to its consistency.