In the round-up: Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the close fight between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
What they say
Wolff was asked whether his team’s strong start to the season reminded him of their dominant 2014 to 2016 campaigns:
It reminds me of the situation we have two drivers with ambition and the ability to win a championship. And it’s up to us together with them to be very aware of the situation.
Remember that very quickly Vettel or Leclerc could be back into the game. We mustn’t be carried away four first results, there’s plenty more races to do. Definitely the relationship matters in order to avoid what we went through with Nico Rosberg and Lewis.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Thanks to everyone who came out to support the @DanWheldonFdtn #DWProAm! @Hinchtown & @Ericsson_Marcus were joined by engineers Will & Robert, Team Manager Billy, Spotter Bobby and Managing Director @taylorkiel 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/JKvCHnZOLH
— Arrow Schmidt Peterson (@SPMIndyCar) May 5, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Mick Schumacher on his F1 ambitions and early F2 experiences (Sky)
"It is very important to do one step after the other. We have done that up until now and F2 should now be the final step before F1."
"The 18-year-old son of a Mexican billionaire was the driver in last month’s crash at Palm Beach International Raceway in which his instructor was killed, authorities and an attorney for the instructor’s widow have confirmed."
Martin Truex Jnr wins third race at Dover (NASCAR via YouTube)
Abt: Switch to Another Team ‘Not Impossible’ (e-racing365)
"I don’t think BMW or Mercedes-Benz will look at me and say: ‘Oh, it’s amazing to have you with your last name'. I think it’s quite clear, it’s always been the case in my career."
Sustainable Mobility to attend the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana 2019 (Circuit de Catalunya)
"All those attending the F1 Grand Prix have specially scheduled public transport services available, thanks to the reinforcement of the RENFE Commuter Train service (Cercanías) and to the special services offered by Sagalés to get to the Circuit by bus."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Comment of the day
There’s a downside to standardising parts to save money, says @Rekibsn:
One wonders if this philosophy had been in place in the early sixties, would we still be driving around with drum brakes?
Likely that the main money saving aspect for the teams will be the reduced need for design and testing resources (aka people) for things like wheels, brakes, ERS control etc. Nuts I say.
The wheel covers are going to take some getting used to, but think of them as potential advertising space.
All well and good until someone tells the brake supplier, you need to build temperature sensitive high degradation brakes to spice up the show.
NS Biker (@Rekibsn)
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On this day in F1
- 30 years ago today Ayrton Senna won the Monaco Grand Prix by 52 seconds, aided by Andrea de Cesaris and Nelson Piquet causing a blockage at Loews hairpin
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th May 2019, 0:09
Ah, Toto, my man. We’ve missed you!
Jay
7th May 2019, 3:26
No matter how many layers are peeled off with the results, you get more sheep’s clothing.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th May 2019, 3:49
You’re a poet.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
7th May 2019, 6:48
Toto Wolff in sheep’ s clothing, or Toto Wool for short
ajay
7th May 2019, 6:59
lol
F1oSaurus (@)
7th May 2019, 6:58
@phylyp Well he’s right, but people don’t want to hear it I guess.
He probably should not answer questions at all. Whatever he says, people will hate him for it.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th May 2019, 7:24
@f1osaurus – I don’t mind a lot of what he says. Toto’s a fun guy to listen to.
It’s just this banging on about how Merc are the underdogs (and variations of the same theme) that is tiresome, particularly in light of Merc bringing their A-game consistently to pretty much every race.
Let’s actually come to a position where Ferrari are truly challenging Merc, and I won’t be complaining about these Totoisms.
ColdFly (@)
7th May 2019, 8:20
I wonder why we keep on seeing these quotes here.
It only causes more comments, discussions, and clicks. Why would a website want to create all that :P
bob (@riptide)
7th May 2019, 10:09
Because they know whatever they put up; as long as it mentions Wolff or Hamilton, the usual suspects will run round the board like headless chickens getting offended about some quote that the poster themselves have heavily edited and spun to suit their own agenda? Personally I’m waiting for Keith to put up a pix of Hamiton; so I can be offended by either his trousers/hair/glasses, or who he’s standing beside.
RatSack
7th May 2019, 8:20
If Toto said, “It’s clear we are completely dominant and It’s disappointing that there are no serious challengers” it would come across as very arrogant and not help the teams image. I’m not sure what else he is supposed to say other than nothing per F1oSauruses suggestion.
grat
7th May 2019, 15:57
It would also make me question his sanity and his fitness to run Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.
It’s not clear they’re completely dominant– Ferrari was definitely faster in testing and Bahrain, and should have been faster in Azerbaijan– at least, that’s what all the experts and team principals seemed to think. For whatever reason, they turned their engine down in Melbourne, and in China, downforce was more important than straight-line speed.
The way to win is to identify your strongest challengers, and make sure you outperform them– and so far, Toto Wolff and Mercedes have done exactly that.
I really don’t get all the whining about Toto’s comments– He’s been remarkably straightforward in his answers to the press, and everyone still thinks he’s a liar. Of course, 48% of Americans believed Trump, so I guess it’s all relative.
erikje
7th May 2019, 17:10
@brat.
no after 4 1-2 finishes and the most reliable engine and best strategy its still quite a surprise for some ;)
grat
8th May 2019, 4:29
@erikje: I realize you have problems with grasping this (and apparently, spelling), but the people who are the most surprised are Mercedes, and all the pundits, journalists, and experts who seriously felt that Ferrari would be much faster than Mercedes heading into Australia, China, and Azerbaijan.
And of course, they *were* faster in Bahrain, right up until they weren’t.
Mercedes is definitely functioning better as a team, but there’s no denying (except for the flat-earth crowd) that Ferrari has a stronger engine.
F1oSaurus (@)
7th May 2019, 18:05
@phylyp Well people hate him for whatever he says about the competition. And that question pretty much the only question we get the answer to on this blog. Over and over.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
7th May 2019, 8:41
> Whatever he says, people will hate him for it
@f1osaurus this isn’t true: he had a conversation with Nico, posted on YouTube, where he’s saying incredibly interesting things. Same goes with his Beyond the Grid episode. He’s a smart man, he’s head of the most successful team in recent years, for a world-class brand. To me, is the worst rival and a person to take as an example, to follow.
You expect him to say intelligent and honest things, not this kind of crap: Mercedes is literally dominating the season, they have the best streak in entire F1 history IIRC: at this point, saying “watch out for Ferrari” is just disrespectful.
What I expect him to say? That they’re working hard and building up on an already successful team, that they make fewer mistakes than their rivals, that they are consolidating their team while their direct rivals have changed a driver and team principal, that Ferrari may had a slightly better car in preseason testing but you win in F1 with a combination of best performing car, drivers, team from mechanics to engineers to strategists.
I expect him to say that Ferrari to beat them must make step forwards in all directions and that’s not easy. That already at this point for them is a matter of keeping a constant development pace, managing their drivers and keep their rivals at a distance. Controlling a race that they can only lose.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
7th May 2019, 8:58
@m-bagattini – well said. No one will hate him for such honesty. We’d even admire him for it.
grat
7th May 2019, 16:00
… but everything he’s said about Ferrari is true. The fact that the season results so far favor Mercedes is because they’ve run better races than Ferrari, not because the Mercedes chassis is so much better, or the engine is so much more powerful like it was in 2014-2016.
If Ferrari can get their act together, they ARE the biggest threat to Mercedes, and pretending otherwise would be irresponsible.
erikje
7th May 2019, 17:12
@grat
and thats the only way to win and be better then the competition.
Ergo, they are the best for now.
F1oSaurus (@)
7th May 2019, 18:07
@ erikje, Yet the point is, Ferrari does have the better car. Ergo the tide can turn quickly. Ergo, Toto Wolf is right.
hobo (@hobo)
7th May 2019, 19:39
@f1osaurus – “Ferrari does have the better car.” Based on what?
Is it based on wins? Merc has all 4 so far.
Podiums? Merc has 8 of 12, Ferrari has 3 of 12.
Is it based on Poles? Merc has 3 and Ferrari has 1.
Fastest laps? Ferrari does have 2 of the 4 to be fair. However, given how this season’s rules lead to somewhat odd strategies to secure FLap, that doesn’t really indicate (to me) that they are superior. Especially when considering everything else; ymmv.
Reliability issues? Ferrari has at least 1 so far in a race, maybe more. Merc has been fine.
Ferrari was quicker in preseason testing, but Merc has been doing the exact same thing every year of the hybrid era. Do insane mileage on the soft/middle tire, collect data, and then win. Exactly what is occurring.
Ferrari was quicker in Bahrain (1 of 4 races so far) but they couldn’t get the car home. So it is great that they were quick, but if unreliability defeats quickness as it did, what does it matter?
F1oSaurus (@)
7th May 2019, 20:15
@hobo Horner, Marko, Vettel, Benotti and Wolff have access to a lot of telemetry and software to interpret that data. So they would know which car is faster and they all say Ferrari has the fastest car.
hobo (@hobo)
7th May 2019, 21:10
@f1osaurus – To be clear you said above, which quoted, that “Ferrari does have the better car.” [bolding is mine for emphasis.]
I will take you at your word that you meant “faster,” but even that seems a stretch. Faster at what? It isn’t faster on a single lap so far, nor faster during a race (barring Bahrain, where they had an engine issue which, again, sort of negates the point of being faster).
It doesn’t really matter if everyone says they are faster when they aren’t so during a race. You are falling victim to Authority bias—“they know better because they have data.” What they say serves their team. Maybe it is true, maybe it isn’t. But I wouldn’t rest my case on Team principles said so.
F1oSaurus (@)
8th May 2019, 19:26
@hobo Well if the team principals of the top three teams agree that Ferrari has the faster/better car then that really makes more sense than pretending that you know better.
Based on what? Based on poor results? That would be daft since that’s exactly the point they are making. That Ferrari could/should have performed better with THAT car.
hobo (@hobo)
8th May 2019, 20:30
@f1osaurus – That’s the thing, I’m not pretending anything. I’m looking at the data available, sharing that data, and making logical conclusions based upon that data. And as of right now, with only 4 races complete, Merc has the better car. By every metric.
You are assuming that team employees are telling the truth. Like last year, Ferrari are still the strongest, Mercedes are less competitive this season, or Ferrari are sandbagging again?
You trust words of team employees that have been vetted by PR over data? Fine. All I can say is, come talk to me at the end of the season. I highly doubt Ferrari will be shown to have the better car when 2019 wraps up. But if so, it will be clear by that point, right?
F1oSaurus (@)
7th May 2019, 18:03
@m-bagattini I’m responding to the article above and the hating he gets for whatever he says about his opponents.
So I will amend my statement then:
Robbie (@robbie)
7th May 2019, 11:10
‘Whatever he says, people will hate him for it’ can be said of how many around here react to anything said by Vettel, Horner, Marko, Brawn, Liberty, Sky commentators, and some posters on this site, not just TW.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
7th May 2019, 9:32
So nothing changes. Mercedes one-two and the rest is there just for fun.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
7th May 2019, 11:10
:D I just enjoy these Mercedes statements by Wolff and Hamilton.
Ferrari so dangerous, they can be in front any second. (do they finally admit, they are in fact now ahead?)
Hamilton is even better.. Max Verstappen a title contender? Doh.
Current balance of power suggests a bit other story. Mercedes are trashing Ferrari 4 to 0.
Bottas is holding the WDC trophy so far. He is the #1 title contender. History shows many things, but Max was never the title contender and Ferrari has not won a WDC or WCC in 10+ years. Hamilton while great, sometimes can loose.
Why is media failing to point this out? Why are they walking around Ferrari story, when as a team they are clearly struggling on delivery. Actual story is Bottas quietly and slowly and barely leading Hamilton. Actual story is Mercedes turned their pre-season testing in to dominant performance, despite not having always the fastest car.
F1oSaurus (@)
7th May 2019, 18:09
@jureo It’s not just Wolff saying it though. Horner and Marko, but also Binotto and Vettel are saying pretty much the same thing.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2019, 13:08
I’m just glad Seb got rid of those hideous mustaches. They simply never fit him.
erikje
7th May 2019, 17:18
Agree, looked like a fawlty towers character
F1oSaurus (@)
7th May 2019, 18:10
@jerejj I was thinking more like Mario. With the red hat and the wild bumper car driving style
Brakly
8th May 2019, 19:19
Hi everybody even if Ferrari fails or losses we all love her because she’s like ordinary people that makes mistakes and struggle to get through not just a cold war machine