F1, Toto Wolff no-nonsense about the new Ferrari

Mercedes team principal: “They are faster than 2022, we are not yet at their level”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had this to say after the second day of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain: “The base is better than 2022, we are more confident because we understood what happened and made developments, the base is more solid and the car has not jumped.”

But according to Wolff the gap from the top two is still clear: “You have to be realistic, Red Bull and Ferrari are fast, they have similar characteristics to 2022, maybe Ferrari is even faster, their level is very high. This is our target, we are not at the level of Red Bull and Ferrari.”

However, Wolff believes there is room for growth: “I think for the first half of the season we will be closer. The goal is the title fight, but as of today I am not optimistic. We are a team that develops quickly, though, and we will analyze the data and see where to intervene.”