Wolff urges Mercedes: ‘I don’t want to postpone catching Red Bull until 2026.’

Toto Wolff has issued a challenge to Mercedes, urging the team to avoid waiting until the Formula 1 rules reset in 2026 to contend with Red Bull. In 2023, Red Bull dominated with 21 wins out of 22 races, amassing 860 championship points, while Mercedes, experiencing its first winless season since 2011, secured only 409 points and finished in second place.

The team shifted from the zero sidepod concept to a more conventional design, serving as the foundation for the upcoming 2024 W15 car. Mercedes, along with teams like Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin, aspires to narrow Red Bull’s advantage, with Toto Wolff determined to prevent 2024 and 2025 from becoming ineffective seasons.

Wolff discusses the challenge of catching up to Red Bull.

“The numbers that we are seeing are strong, Wolff told media when asked if F1 could ‘survive’ a second straight season of the dominance Red Bull showed in 2023.

“We are growing on social media, we see that races are packed and sold out, but as a matter of fact, it is all around the spectacle, and if the spectacle is not good, our fans are going to follow us less.

“What I always say is that I like the honesty in that the spectacle always follows the sport, and the sport is a meritocracy.

“Whoever is doing the best job wins, and if somebody is doing a much better job, then they win [21] races, and you can’t stop that.

“Us, Ferrari and all the other teams have to do a better job to compete with Red Bull and if we can’t change anything, then people are going to say [before the race]: ‘Well I know the result.’

“It happened to us with Lewis many years ago, but you’ve just got to do a better job. I don’t want to wait until 2026.”