McLaren’s transformation in the past year has left Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff impressed.
Toto Wolff has labelled McLaren’s rise to Formula 1 front-runners a “fantastic recovery story”, saying he is not looking on with “envy” as Mercedes look to catch up.
Despite McLaren’s poor-performing car at the beginning of the 2023 season, a major overhaul during the mid-season resulted in them consistently securing podium finishes by the end of the season. Their ongoing improvements this year eventually paid off when Lando Norris achieved a race victory in Miami.
Toto Wolff: McLaren showing what is possible in ‘fantastic recovery story’
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
The Mercedes team principal and CEO explained that his team are actually looking at McLaren as an example of how significant changes have reaped rewards, complimenting their “good engineering” and saying Mercedes “have to have respect” for how they have improved.
Wolff expressed his satisfaction with the impressive performance of the engines supplied by Mercedes to the McLaren team based in Woking. He further mentioned that McLaren’s approach serves as a valuable example for the eight-time Constructors’ champions in their pursuit of achieving their objectives.
Wolff expressed to the media, including PlanetF1.com at Imola, that he considers it an incredible tale of recovery.
A year ago, McLaren struggled to make it past Q1, but today they are fiercely competing for race victories.
The car is not just speedy, but it also has impressive tire performance. Our main focus is on the engine, which not only performs well but also takes care of the tires. Additionally, the team’s remarkable progress can be seen in their transformation from being a slow competitor to a leading one in under a year, specifically from July to April.
We are currently exploring the possibility of creating a car that can be at the forefront of the pack by taking the necessary measures to make significant progress.
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The main reason I love this sport is because the stopwatch always tells the truth, and they have done an excellent job with their approach. We must acknowledge and respect the way they have conducted themselves.
Having more competition among the leading contenders benefits the sport and all involved, so I don’t feel envious about it. Instead, I see it as a goal to strive for because they have successfully achieved it.
In my opinion, it all comes down to solid engineering. It’s essential to take each step systematically. They made a significant alteration to their car’s concept in the latter part of winter, if I recall correctly. They continued to make improvements and ever since then, their performance has been steadily improving.
I believe our goal is to reach a stable platform where we establish our desired specifications for the car, and then let the development process take over.
“We have deviated slightly from our initial plan regarding where we believed our performance should be. However, in Formula 1, time is an invaluable asset that cannot be purchased.”
Once you make a mistake, you find yourself at a disadvantage, and it becomes exceedingly challenging to surpass others.
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