21/06/2025 11:35
Toto Wolff has maintained he is "never confident" over strong form
continuing for Mercedes, given the "swings in performance" evident
in the current generation of F1 cars. Courtesy of George Russell,
the Brackley-based squad took an assured victory from pole position
at the Canadian Grand Prix, with the British driver also setting
the fastest lap of the race. Kimi Antonelli also secured the first
podium finish of his F1 career at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve,
becoming the third-youngest in the championship's history to reach
the rostrum and the first Italian to do so since Jarno Trulli in
2009. Nonetheless, Wolff is acutely aware of the precarious nature
of strong form in F1, even with the calendar entering a stretch of
races the eight-time constructors' champions enjoyed last season.
Following Russell being gifted victory at the Red Bull Ring after
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen clashed in the closing stages 12
months ago, Mercedes took further wins at Silverstone and
Spa-Francorchamps through Lewis Hamilton. But the team's boss knows
nothing is guaranteed, despite that run one year ago. When asked
how confident he is over his team replicating the performance it
showed in Montreal over the coming rounds, Wolff was direct in his
response. "Never confident, because the swings in performance are
still there," the Austrian told media including RacingNews365 .
"You see it last year that on some tracks, it wasn't even close to
who was second but we dominated throughout the weekend, and that's
a little bit the pattern we have seen [in Canada]." Wolff went on
to highlight the contrasting demands of the circuit in Spielberg,
commenting how it will be a "different ball game" there. "And
Austria is going to be a different ball game, different track
layout, different challenges," the 53-year-old explained. "So all
of our eyes and brains are concentrated on Austria now. This is
done, tick the box.
