Wolff gives up hope: 'We screwed up in several areas'

Mercedes expected to be competitive in France, especially after the big step the team made with the updates at Silverstone. Toto Wolff, however, was disappointed, although Lewis Hamilton and George Russell did manage a double podium. The Mercedes team boss admits his team did not go wrong on just one thing, but 'screwed up in several areas'.

Wolff admits that after years of dominance, Mercedes was "unprepared" for the fact that the team would one day run into trouble. "And now we are in that situation," the Austrian replied when asked by AFP if he expected to be without a win this far into the season.

Wolff gives up hope

In the meantime, the team boss no longer dares to state that a victory is still in the cards this year. "Before Paul Ricard I would have said yes, now we wonder why we are a second behind Max Verstappen and six tenths behind Ferrari. We have a long way to go to be able to dream of victories," Wolff continued.

In Formula 1, the lap time never lies, and according to Wolff, it became clear in France that Mercedes are not fast. He even seems to be throwing in the towel when he publicly admits how his team has screwed up this year. "We screwed up mechanically, we screwed up aerodynamically, it's never just one thing," he continues.

Wolff names favourite for F1 title

If Mercedes still had a glimmer of hope of entering the title race, as far as Wolff is concerned that hope is well and truly gone. Instead, he is focusing on the battle between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc ahead of his team. "Charles is an exceptional driver, a great personality, he deserves to win. I don't know if it does him any good but if I could choose it would be him," Wolff said.