Will Mercedes throw in the towel and focus on 2026? Wolff explains

History is not in Mercedes' favour. When a team has missed the boat on technical matters, it is almost always a matter of waiting until the next rule change before it can play a significant role again. In just over a year and a half from now, that moment will be here. Although the rules for 2026 and beyond have not been fully crystallised by the FIA, the direction is clear. For teams, it may be tempting to sacrifice the 2025 season for that.

Teams may officially start working on the 2026 cars next winter. For example, Mercedes, in a weaker period, might choose to focus mainly on the new generation of cars instead of continuing to seek improvements for the 2025 W16. However, that is not what Toto Wolff, Mercedes' team boss, is planning.

"We are Mercedes, we cannot completely abandon the current regulations and then perform, continue to perform on the level we are at the moment," said the Austrian. "That's not the ambition of the brand and our own and our partners. So, no, I think you've got to continue to push, continue to form your understanding and eventually when the FIA comes up with some kind of form of regulations that we, like all the other things we were starting to look at it and probably more on the earlier side."

Wolff believes in resurgence

For the current season, Mercedes still has a long way to go. However, Wolff is confident that a catch-up can be achieved. "I think you can only look back and say, how did last season run. And you can see the fluctuations in performance. Ferrari was not very good and then eventually turned it around and was the second force in the later stage of the championship."

"In the same way with McLaren, it was even a bigger swing. They were not getting out. They were not getting themselves out of Q1 and at the end were regular podium contenders. So I think these swings will still happen and at the moment, we're not able to fight them. But that's certainly a realistic target, much more realistic than [to beat] Max."