The Brackley team survived two difficult weekends in Monaco and Baku. Team principal Toto Wolff said his recent performances are “unacceptable” if Red Bull are to beat Red Bull for the F1 title.
But while Mercedes will have to focus more on its current problems than it would be ideal because of the difficult situation, Wolff says there will be no deviation from the way it has divided resources between this and next year.
With Formula 1 moving to a completely new car concept starting next year, the teams are aware that they need to throw as much resources as possible at the challenger of 2022 so that they can get going at the beginning of the campaign.
Many believe it could be years before they fall behind at the dawn of the new era.
After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Wolff said things were far from ideal for Mercedes at the moment, but the team was determined to split its work between 2021 and 2022.
“We have already readjusted the planning for 2022,” said Wolff. “And nothing can be done with it.
“We’re not going to change any decisions we made, strategic decisions just because we had two really bad race weekends.
Toto Wolff, team principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG reacts to the screen in the garage
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
“We knew that these two circuits were probably the worst for us. And I hope that I am correct in this assessment.
“Let’s see how the European races go now. But of course, these two were absolutely below the standards that we have set ourselves and the expectations that we have set ourselves.”
But while Mercedes is clear that a push this year shouldn’t hurt plans for next year, Red Bulls Max Verstappen has urged his team to give it their all this season.
He says it would be foolish to miss the chance of a full title attack this season, like BMW-Sauber did in 2008 with Robert Kubica, because no one has a guarantee of success for 2022.
“I think as long as we have a good chance of winning this championship we shouldn’t give it up,” he said.
“It’s hard to say, of course. This year is a bit tricky, but next year we can win it. You never know. But if you have a chance this year we will definitely try.”
The post Two bad weekends won’t cause Mercedes to adjust F1 plans for 2022 first appeared on monter-une-startup.
