Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff has echoed driver Lewis Hamilton‘s sentiments in regards to their teams chances of success in 2022.
It’s been a tough start to the season for the team, who’ve won the last eight constructors’ championships, with just a solitary podium finish between their two cars so far.
The pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished third and fourth, respectively, in the opening race of the season before Russell finished fifth in Saudi Arabia and Hamilton a disappointing tenth.
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After the race, Hamilton gave the frank admission that they could not be considered among the contenders.
“Right now we are not fighting for the top step, we are still far off the guys who are ahead and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.
“It feels like a long way away.”
Now team principal Wolff has stressed that this season, and the ongoing struggles with the car, will be an ‘exercise in humility’.
“We were right in the middle of those fun games in the front, and talking as an F1 stakeholder and benefiting from a great show, that is really spectacular to look at,” he said.
“But on the other side, it is extremely painful to be not part of those fun games, and by quite a chunk of lap time deficit.”
Mercedes are now a distant third at the sportsbooks to win this year’s championship, behind Red Bull and Ferrari, while Hamilton has drifted to $10 to win the drivers’ championship behind short-priced favourite and defending champ Max Verstappen, as well as Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen claimed his first victory of the year on the weekend, with the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rounding out the podium.
“We’re not going to rest until we are back in the mix,” Wolff said.
“But you’re absolutely right: it’s no fun at all. [It’s] an exercise in humility, and it’s going to make us stronger in the end, even though it’s not funny right now.”
Russell, who joined the team from Williams this year, admitted Mercedes needs to find some pace soon.
“We are definitely not out of it but if we don’t manage to find some improvements there is no way we will be fighting for this championship,” he said.
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