Why does Toto Wolff seem unhappy despite Mercedes grabbing a double podium at 2022 F1 French GP?

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was not in a buoyant mood after the F1 French GP even though the team had scored its best result of the season. Lewis Hamilton finished the race in P2, while his teammate George Russell finished in P3. Wolff was happy with the result achieved by the team but cautioned against reading too much into it.

Having said that, the result might not have been possible if Charles Leclerc had not crashed his Ferrari and Carlos Sainz was not starting the race at the back of the grid. Mercedes was clearly a step behind the two front runners and it was evident when Lewis Hamilton could not pose much of a threat to Max Verstappen despite having fresher tires.

Speaking to the media, Toto Wolff stressed that the team could not afford to get complacent because of the results. He said:

“We need to stay humble, because our car is just not good enough to fight with the teams in the front. We’re lacking six to seven-tenths the leaders. In qualifying we struggle to bring the tyres into the optimum window and don’t manage to extract the most from the first flying lap.’’

He continued:

“And then in the race, we lose three seconds at the start of the race, but once we stabilise, we are actually not so bad. We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe we have the best people to do so. All in all, today was a great team effort at track and back at the factories and we’re heading in the right direction.’’

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Toto Wolff praised the Mercedes drivers for extracting the maximum from the car

Looking at the race overall, Toto Wolff commended both his drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and the way they maximized the results in the race. Lewis Hamilton started the race in P4 but got the jump on Red Bull's Sergio Perez at the start of the race, while Charles Leclerc's crash elevated him to P2. George Russell, on the other hand, started the race in P6 and was able to overtake Fernando Alonso and Perez on his way to a strong P3 finish.

Wolff said:

“Overall, the drivers did a really good job and the team effort was great today. We’re extracting the maximum that is possible on race day currently. George was clever and fast, while Lewis was fighting like a lion. Lewis is absolutely on it and keeps pushing the team. He keeps his positive mindset, even on grim days like yesterday and he never stops pushing.’’

Mercedes is now only 44 points behind Ferrari in the constructors' championship. It will be interesting to see whether the eight-time champion can overtake Ferrari due to its consistency.