Mercedes forms “unacceptable” in F1 title fight

After difficult weekends in Monaco and Baku, Wolff believes his squad is undersupplied and will have to return to the French Grand Prix A game if Red Bull is to be deterred.

Wolff said his problems in Baku, which Valtteri Bottas had no pace for and Lewis Hamilton tossed away the win with a restart after accidentally pressing the wrong button on his steering wheel, “destroyed” and frustrated him.

“I think there are a lot of things that are not going as smoothly as they have been in recent years,” said Wolff.

“Operationally, we’re not in our A-Game. Through qualifying and racing, we didn’t really find the car’s sweet spot of having a fast qualifying car and a fast racing car.

“There is just so much we need to improve that after that call I just want to get started now to make sure we can actually fight for this championship.

“You can’t lose any more points like we did in Monaco and here. It’s unacceptable to all of us.”

Wolff said dealing with the disappointment in Monaco, where Bottas was eliminated by a pit stop mistake and Hamilton failed to make the top six, as well as the difficulties in Baku had presented him with the biggest challenge since taking office at Mercedes.

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When asked if these were the toughest weeks he can remember, he said: “Yes, they are the toughest. Because having no performance in Monaco needed Valtteri, who would have made it safely on the podium A pit stop of 36 hours is not a really great achievement, measured against the standards that we set ourselves.

“Then the car that almost all of the sessions were [in Baku] nowhere. Then, to be honest, it was okay to finish third and even try to make it through.

“But it is simply not acceptable that we do not bring the car into a high-performance position after the start or after the pit stops. We only lose seconds and seconds.”

While Max Verstappen’s resignation from the leadership in Baku at least ensured the stability of the World Cup positions, Hamilton’s departure in Baku was particularly painful, said Wolff.

“To be honest, we are both destroyed,” said Wolff. “For him as a driver you have it obviously, it’s so close and then everything is gone.

“We just have to be the best, the best of us and the best we have. And we didn’t give the drivers a competitive package this weekend. It was anything but a competitive package.

“That is the frustration. It is not just the incident at the end that is frustrating. Overall, it does not meet our own expectations. All of us together: Lewis, the engineers, me, everyone on the team.”