{"id":30900,"date":"2025-02-24T13:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T18:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30900"},"modified":"2025-02-24T13:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T18:54:09","slug":"toto-wolff-sets-out-mercedes-expectations-for-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/24\/toto-wolff-sets-out-mercedes-expectations-for-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff sets out Mercedes expectations for 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/12\/mercedes-assign-bottas-with-role-of-mentoring-kimi-antonelli\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Mercedes<\/a> were one of many teams to complete 200km of running at Bahrain today, capitalising on one of their annual &#8216;filming days&#8217; to get some data on the W16.<\/p>\n<p>The Silver Arrows regularly fought for wins last season, although they also suffered from some very disappointing weekends &#8211; such was the inconsistent nature of their 2024 challenger.<\/p>\n<p>For this season&#8217;s campaign, Mercedes have brought a series of alterations &#8211; including a new front suspension.<\/p>\n<p>James Allison and his technical department are optimistic that a new aerodynamic platform will put them on a better path for 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>Mercedes want to learn from previous mistakes<\/h2>\n<p>Traditionally, the Brackley-based outfit have been renowned for very consistent development &#8211; quickly correcting issues once they arise and finding solutions to outpace rivals.<\/p>\n<p>It was often this strength that allowed <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/02\/toto-wolff-dismisses-conspiracies-about-hamilton-struggles\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Toto Wolff&#8217;s squad<\/a> to prevail against Ferrari in the late 2010s, with the Scuderia often losing ground to the German constructor mid-season.<\/p>\n<p>However, this has not been the case since the 2022 regulations arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Correlation between the wind tunnel and the track has been difficult to rely on, with the Brackley engineers often confused by the car&#8217;s performance.<\/p>\n<p>Most concerningly for Mercedes, after enjoying a very strong run of events before the summer break, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/18\/ferrari-and-mclaren-make-similar-gains-over-winter-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">McLaren and Ferrari<\/a> both made comprehensive progress in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Even Red Bull overcame their mid-season hiccups, albeit to a more limited extent.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, whilst Mercedes had brilliant flashes of performance (i.e Las Vegas), Toto Wolff&#8217;s team could not overcome their fundamental issues.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"p0vXKHt0Tq9z1F7wrvUZ7A\" 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:'p0vXKHt0Tq9z1F7wrvUZ7A',sig:'lwWUk1gw_d2FuLryPkI-RQusONCjdy3fLYcD92jmc0w=',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>Wolff: Russell will lead the team<\/h4>\n<p>With the 2025 season ever-closer, the Mercedes team principal is optimistic:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We have made gains in the off-season, but we will only know where we stand come the first race in Australia. We have an exciting line-up to help us achieve our objectives.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Both drivers have progressed through our junior programme and that is a vindication of our commitment to both supporting and developing talent.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;George has proven that he is one of the very best drivers on the grid, capable of competing for the Drivers\u2019 Championship if we can give him a car capable of doing so.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>During the winter break, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/24\/george-russell-mercedes-w16-should-be-a-clear-step-forward\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Russell<\/a> has spoken openly about his expectations for the new season.<\/p>\n<p>Not only is the British driver optimistic that Mercedes can perform at the highest level, but he is not afraid of going head-to-head with Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n<p>Irrespective of which team is fastest in 2025, George Russell will be expected to act as a reference point for the team.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/20\/hamilton-i-dont-see-myself-ready-to-stop-if-i-win-ferrari-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Lewis Hamilton<\/a> moving to Ferrari, Mercedes must ensure this transitional phase goes smoothly.<\/p>\n<p>If the W16 is not a sizable step forward, Toto Wolff&#8217;s squad risk being reliant on the regulation changes to change their fortunes.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;As the senior driver, he will help lead the team forward and support Kimi in his development.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Kimi has all the necessary talent to achieve great things at the pinnacle of the sport, but this is a rookie season and there will inevitably be ups and downs.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We\u2019re looking forward to that journey together though and helping him develop over the course of the year.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mercedes were one of many teams to complete 200km of running at Bahrain today, capitalising on one of their annual &#8216;filming days&#8217; to get some data on the W16. The Silver Arrows regularly fought for wins last season, although they also suffered from some very disappointing weekends &#8211; such was the inconsistent nature of their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":30903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[2452,121,2461],"class_list":["post-30900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-mercedes","tag-w16"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30900","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=30900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30913,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30900\/revisions\/30913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}