Toto Wolff: Mercedes made 'all the mistakes you can make' at Abu Dhabi GP

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was not happy with how his team fared in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, as they made a plethora of mistakes.

After starting in the third row, George Russell finished fifth, while Lewis Hamilton did not finish the race due to mechanical failure. That meant the seven-time world champion endured the first winless campaign of his illustrious 16-season F1 career.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Wolff lamented about Mercedes cooking the tyres after the first few laps, leading to their struggles. He said:

"That was really not good. All the mistakes you can make, a car that was not at the pace it should have been. Third quickest today – one car breaking down and the other one running out of tyres. It was a precise summary of the season, and here we are."

He continued:

"I think we cooked the tyres in the first few laps. We attacked strongly; the car seemed to be really good, and then the front right just gave up. Maybe that’s something we should have predicted, but that is the consequence."

The Mercedes boss added that team knew that the race in Abu Dhabi was going to be a tough one. Wolff was at least able to find a few positives after Mercedes had registered their first win of the season last week in Brazil. He said:

"We knew that Abu Dhabi was going to be a difficult one for the car, so at least the correlation is good. Brazil was just spectacular, dominating from the beginning to the end with the one-two, and at least, we ticked the box with a race win."

Mercedes (515) finished 39 points behind second-placed Ferrari in the constructor standings.

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"We are pushing on to next year" - Mercedes boss

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that the W13, the team's 2022 F1 challenger, will be placed at the reception of both offices at Brackley and Brixworth as a reminder of how bad things could be.

He said:

"First of all, we are going to put these cars in the reception at Brackley and Brixworth to remind us every day of how difficult it could be. Thanks to everyone watching Sky at HPP and MGP, this is a character-building season."

He continued:

"You keep pushing, and the engine came along well. On the chassis side, we came along well, and look at a week ago, it made us feel as good as it could be and we pushing on to next year. It's wrong and bad to feel like this, but we are pushing on to next year."

Mercedes had their worst season in the turbo hybrid era, as they ended the season with a solitary win (Brazil).