Toto Wolff shares Lewis Hamilton’s view as Mercedes reality becomes clear

Mercedes come into the Austrian Grand Prix on the back of Lewis Hamilton’s first podium of the year last time out in Barcelona and with a car that has been notably improved

Toto Wolff has repeated the admission from Lewis Hamilton that, despite their recent progress, Mercedes still have work to do to compete for race wins.

For a long time, the Silver Arrows have had to watch on enviously as their Red Bull rivals have dominated Formula 1. Over the past couple of months, the likes of McLaren and Ferrari have made significant strides in closing the performance gap but Mercedes still remained some way off.

That has changed in recent weeks. The team recorded back-to-back podiums, George Russell in Canada before Hamilton got his first of the year in Barcelona last weekend, with their latest batch of upgrades bringing a clear performance boost.

Hamilton was delighted after finishing third in Spain but admitted his car still did not have the pace to challenge either Max Verstappen or Lando Norris for the win. And Wolff agrees that there is still progress to be made on that front.

The Austrian said: “We knew Barcelona would be a good measure of our recent progress. The team has worked hard to improve the W15 at circuits with a wide corner speed range, like Barcelona. Those incremental gains helped us build on the momentum from Montreal.

“Although we didn’t have the ultimate pace to compete for the win, it was encouraging to be in the mix. Lewis scored a well-deserved podium and George managed his final stint well to take P4. We came away from the weekend with solid points but we know there is more work to do to be in with a realistic chance of fighting for victories. That work is ongoing, and we are on a positive trajectory.”

Wolff went on to preview this weekend’s race in his homeland and added: “We head to Austria looking to continue that positive progress. It is a very different circuit to last weekend.

“There is plenty of low to mid-speed content, punctuated by some longer straights. That will provide another challenge and reference point for our car. The group at the front of the field is tightly packed and we will have to be at our best to challenge for the podium once again.”

Mercedes saw both cars qualify in the top six for the Sprint race, with Russell fourth and Hamilton two places further back. The former was pleased with that result and saw it as “validation” of Mercedes’ recent improvements, but his team-mate was gloomy as he reflected on the session.

Hamilton said: “I wasn’t in the mix at all, our whole session was pretty disastrous from our side. What can I say? Practice was good and the car generally felt good, but I don’t think we had the pace to get pole. But, yeah, very bad laps, every single one of them.”