Wolff realistic: "We are going to be competitive, but don't know when"

After a season with just one win, Mercedes wants to return to the top in 2023. That will be a challenge, given how far behind Red Bull Racing and Ferrari they were in the early part of last season.

Team boss Toto Wolff firmly believes that Mercedes will again compete for wins and world titles, he said at a press conference attended by GPblog.

"I want to say we will be competitive but on the other side we need to stay humble and be realistic. The midway around is that we will be competitive, we just don't know when. We are on the slope that we want to be in terms of our performance. But then you don't know where the other ones are. Humility is important. We have always tried to be humble."

No surprise

For Wolff - after all these years of dominance - it is no surprise that there was a period of less success. "We talked about it every single year when we were successful that eventually we are going to have a difficult one. No sports team in the world won every single competition they participated in. That moment came last year and it was difficult. it was not just the race that went wrong, it was the whole season, or at least the first half of the season."

He continued: "It was about really living to our own standings, staying motivated. Not blaming anyone within the organization and sticking our heads together to work our way out of it. That's something that showed the strengths of the team and our values and our mindset. Hopefully that can be a good continuous base for our growth."

Mercedes - Wolff admits ruefully - hit the wrong note in terms of design last season. "I wouldn't want us to become conservative in the future. I want us to take calculated risks and be bold."