Wolff tough on Mercedes: Performance last races "unacceptable"

For years, Mercedes appeared to be an unbeatable hurdle for the other Formula 1 teams. The Brackley-based team won all the titles well before the end of the season without any major problems and seemed to be the perfect F1 team for a long time. However, with Red Bull Racing finally proving capable of making things difficult for Mercedes right from the start of the season, cracks are starting to show. 

Unacceptable

Whether it's down to the drivers, Hamilton was pretty invisible in Monaco and colleague Bottas was so in Baku, or to the team (the almost whacky story behind the Finn's retirement in Monaco), the fact is that all is not smooth sailing anymore at the Silver Arrows. Team owner Toto Wolff calls the performance of his team in the last couple of races "unacceptable".

"Just" third

Another clear piece of evidence that the team seems to be in decline is that they failed to finish in the points at Baku for the first time since Austria 2018. Toto Wolff thinks his way around it, saying to Motorsportweek.com: "To be honest, if we had just finished third that would have been okay, but it's just not acceptable that we don't get the car in a performance position before the start or at the pit stops. We're losing seconds upon seconds to get the car in a good position where it performs. It's just taking too long."

Frustrations

Wolff is therefore hard on himself and his team: "We just have to show the best of us, the best we have, and we didn't give the drivers a competitive package this weekend. Far from competitive. And that's the frustration. It's not just the incident at the end that frustrates, it's about the fact that we didn't meet our expectations, all of us together, Lewis, the engineers and myself, everyone in the team."