Toto Wolff has compared this year’s championship fight with Red Bull to the rivalry between Mercedes and Ferrari in 2018 and 2019 – when the intensity of the fight meant that his team was driven “almost to the breaking point”.
Although Mercedes has had an unbroken track record in the championship since 2014, Ferrari emerged as the strongest challenger in both 2018 and 2019, and after 10 races in the 2018 season, Scuderia led the Silver Arrows with 20 points in the constructors’ championship, while Sebastian Vettel was in eight points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.
Mercedes and Hamilton would overtake their rivals in the second half of the season, while Ferrari had a fast car again in 2019, with new signing Charles Leclerc at the helm before the Mercedes-Hamilton combination won again.
READ MORE: The Biggest Shock, Their Three Best Drivers, And A Bold Prediction – Our Authors About The First Half Of The 2021 Season
And when assessing the Mercedes season before the summer break, Wolff said that Red Bull’s current challenge – the Silver Arrows are only 12 points clear after the Hungarian Grand Prix – reminded of this Ferrari rivalry and explained how much it stood on impacted his team.
“The past few months have been really intense,” he said. “We had a good time in early spring – we could compete strongly in Portimao and Barcelona and then we had a couple of races that were really bad, starting with Monaco and then Baku [races which began a run of five straight wins for Red Bull].
“But since then we’ve kind of found our grip, we’ve learned, we’ve discovered how our car works on the new tires, and I think we went back to a much better place at Silverstone and Hungary.
“This season is very intense, but also in 2018 and especially in ’19 – when we fought against Ferrari – it was sometimes very difficult. We really went to the limits and that also means pushing each other almost to the breaking point in order to win the championship. “
Mercedes could lead the constructors’ championship right now, but Wolff insists they are still chasing Red Bull in terms of the car’s raw performance – and despite the stresses of the job, his squad must enjoy the second half of the season.
READ MORE: Shovlin shocked Mercedes’ pace – and Red Bull’s deficit on the Silver Arrows – at the Hungarian GP
“Hopes are one thing, expectations are another, and reality can be another,” he said.
“I think we are the hunters, we are having fun – there is nothing to lose for us because we are behind our competitors, so all we have to do is win and continue the journey with great anticipation, every single race weekend enjoy and try to do the best possible job and hopefully that’s enough to really fight for the championship by the end of the season. “
The fight begins at the end of August with the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps.
