{"id":29314,"date":"2025-01-04T13:48:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T18:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=29314"},"modified":"2025-01-04T14:02:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T19:02:36","slug":"toto-wolff-mercedes-wont-sacrifice-2025-for-2026-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/04\/toto-wolff-mercedes-wont-sacrifice-2025-for-2026-regulations\/","title":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff: Mercedes won&#8217;t sacrifice 2025 car for 2026 regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mercedes will not write off this season to prioritise on the next regulation changes, says <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/10\/22\/toto-wolff-mercedes-upgrades-caused-hamilton-us-gp-spin\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Toto Wolff<\/a>. The 52-year-old explains that Mercedes want to optimise their success in both 2025 and 2026 &#8211; rather than sacrificing one for the other.<\/p>\n<h2>Mercedes aim for two birds with one stone<\/h2>\n<p>The last twelve months have been a mixed bag for Mercedes. From one perspective, they can be satisfied with the four victories they claimed in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Having failed to win a race in 2023, the German constructor managed to take a big step forward last season.<\/p>\n<p>In the build-up to the summer break, at venues like Canada, Austria, Britain and Spa, Mercedes were arguably the fastest team.<\/p>\n<p>Upgrades to the W15 worked immediately, unlocking more performance and punishing direct rivals (Ferrari and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/04\/helmut-marko-red-bull-hopeful-max-factor-will-continue-in-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Red Bull<\/a>) for being static.<\/p>\n<p>However, Toto Wolff&#8217;s team were frustrated that this mid-season form was not consistent.<\/p>\n<p>The W15&#8217;s susceptibility to different temperatures and wind conditions became re-emerged as a limiting factor, ultimately preventing Mercedes from finishing any higher than fourth in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Even after their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/10\/11\/f1-news-mercedes-to-bring-significant-updates-to-us-gp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">late-season COTA upgrades<\/a>, results were inconsistent. A dominant 1-2 finish in Las Vegas was followed by less impressive results in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"qoCtl7ikScFw28rBG7MzEg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2188355141\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'qoCtl7ikScFw28rBG7MzEg',sig:'O9D8_YINjRggzzkXRD4G3KbmAH4qMFOsAKmbgbz09OM=',w:'594px',h:'416px',items:'2188355141',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Toto Wolff: Mercedes won&#8217;t abandon 2025<\/h4>\n<p>Because of this, the Brackley-based team enter this year as a massive unknown. There is also the issue of preparing for the 2026 regulations.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Toto Wolff makes clear that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/13\/f1-news-mercedes-reveal-priorities-for-2025-package\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Mercedes can balance 2025 and 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Mercedes team principal argues there is still everything to play for heading into the final season of these regulations:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Sometimes it is much less complex than one thinks,&#8221;<\/em> he told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/f1\/news\/why-mercedes-is-not-tempted-to-write-off-2025-for-new-rules-head-start\/10660988\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Autosport<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Probably the transition of people and capability into the 2026 regulations is going to happen a bit earlier than it would under stable regulations.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But it&#8217;s not going to be game-changing,&#8221;<\/em> Wolff explained.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Nobody&#8217;s going to switch the machines off in January, unless you are really nowhere&#8230; We are fighting for victories and podiums, and cannot write it off.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>High risk, high reward for the W16<\/h4>\n<p>On-track performance is not the only consideration for Mercedes next year. Kimi Antonelli&#8217;s progress will be eagerly observed across the field, by rivals and analysts alike.<\/p>\n<p>The 18-year-old enters Mercedes a few years after the height of their dominance &#8211; but the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/10\/13\/kimi-antonelli-targets-race-victories-in-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">pressure of fighting for race victories<\/a> is still likely to be a huge factor.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_29327\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29327\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-29327 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/M467702-1-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/M467702-1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/M467702-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/01\/M467702-1-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29327\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2024 Mexican Grand Prix, Friday &#8211; Sebastian Kawka<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With George Russell alongside him, Antonelli has a very strong reference. This means that Antonelli&#8217;s abilities &#8211; and whether Toto Wolff was correct to promote him so soon &#8211; can be determined relatively soon.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily for the Italian, the Brackley squad enter 2025 as somewhat of a wild card.<\/p>\n<p>Should they struggle to catch <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/03\/mclaren-cautious-of-new-threat-ferrari-are-back-in-the-fight\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Ferrari and McLaren<\/a> over the winter, Mercedes can console themselves by pointing towards their potential for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>By all accounts, Toto Wolff&#8217;s team have the resources to hit the ground running with the next generation of F1 cars.<\/p>\n<p>However, Mercedes are still within striking range of title contention.<\/p>\n<p>If James Allison&#8217;s technical team can overcome the inconsistencies that have been so prevalent in recent years, Russell and Antonelli could become regular features at very front in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mercedes will not write off this season to prioritise on the next regulation changes, says Toto Wolff. The 52-year-old explains that Mercedes want to optimise their success in both 2025 and 2026 &#8211; rather than sacrificing one for the other. Mercedes aim for two birds with one stone The last twelve months have been a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":29328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,465,121],"class_list":["post-29314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-f1-news","tag-mercedes"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29314"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29331,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29314\/revisions\/29331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}