Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has revealed the scale of the challenge the team must overcome in 2025 to remain competitive.
Mercedes has badly struggled for pace since the introduction of the ground-effect cars in 2022, slumping down the competitive order.
The Silver Arrows have won just four races since 2021, and now faces its first year without seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Pre-season testing in Bahrain failed to show that Mercedes had made the leap forward in pace it so desperately needs.
George Russell and new signing Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed flashes of speed, but struggled on longer pace runs.
Toto Wolff has now revealed the pace issues of the W16, indicating Mercedes’ struggles are far from over.
Toto Wolff: Mercedes faced an ‘uphill challenge’
Writing in Mercedes’ official weekend preview, Wolff laid bare the issues behind the scenes at Brackley.
“As a team, we had an uphill challenge over the winter.”
“Our competitors finished 2024 strongly and we know that Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren in particular, should have a performance advantage over us initially.”
Despite the admission that Mercedes could have the fourth fastest car at the start of 2025, Wolff still saw positives.
He said the team had worked hard during pre-season testing in Bahrain to iron out the flaws of the W16 ahead of the first race of the season.
Wolff also confirmed this work seemed to have been productive, as both drivers cited improvements to the car by the end of testing.
However, Wolff urged caution, as he said the true test will come when F1 kicks off the season in Melbourne this weekend.
“We can be pleased with the work we have done in the off-season, and the test in Bahrain.”
“Both drivers commented favourably on the W16 after the three days, and we seem to have made improvements.
“Of course, the only thing that matters is how we measure up against the stopwatch relative to our competitors. We will certainly begin to get a clearer picture on that this weekend.”
