Wolff doesn't expect miracles: "We don't have that advantage anymore"

Toto Wolff has seen the cracks appear in his team over the past three races, with Red Bull Racing coming out on top. Following Mercedes' defeat in France, the team boss says he is under no illusions for the next two races scheduled in Austria.

Wolff says there is far too little time to apply major technical updates before the next race, and that the circuit in Spielberg is not a Mercedes track. "The Red Bull Ring has its pitfalls. Our car is not so happy in turns three and five, two sharp corners. And with the package Red Bull has now, I'm under no illusions: they will be very hard to beat. You saw that in Le Castellet", the Austrian explains to Motorsport-Total.com.

Wolff doesn't expect miracles in Austria

"I think in the race we might be a bit closer, but we don't have the advantage we had in terms of top speed on the straight anymore," he continued. "Honda has made more progress than us, you can't ignore that."

Furthermore, Wolff says Mercedes' focus is already largely on 2022. Asked what he considers more important: a possible eighth title in 2021 or possibly multiple titles from 2022 onwards, he replied, "Both are equally important to me. But you have to consider that the 2022 rules will remain like that for a number of years, and that the developments on that car are greater than those on the current car."

The Mercedes team boss admits his team has not had a trouble-free season, and that he has been frustrated by a number of missed opportunities, including Valtteri Bottas ' fatal pit stop in Monaco and Lewis Hamilton 's missed victory at Paul Ricard. "Those are 33 lost points that I would rather have," said Wolff.