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Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor
Mercedes workforce principal Toto Wolff has likened the problem of catching Pink Bull to that of climbing Mount Everest after his workforce scored lower than the factors of the world champions this 12 months and completed a distant second within the standings.
Pink Bull received the constructors’ title in dominant fashion this 12 months, taking victories in any respect however one of many season’s 22 races whereas Max Verstappen notched up a document 19 wins in a single 12 months to safe the drivers’ crown.
The Dutchman has received the final three drivers’ titles — extending his benefit over his nearest competitor every time — whereas Pink Bull has changed Mercedes as System One’s dominant pressure because the introduction of latest technical laws in 2022.
“Pink Bull has began these laws in 2022 with an enormous benefit and have been in a position to retain it,” Wolff mentioned. “We have to have numerous respect for his or her achievement, within the engineering aspect and the driving force, and beating them below the present laws is towards the chances, that is clear.”
Work on subsequent 12 months’s automobiles has been underway for a number of months, with Pink Bull neglecting the event of this 12 months’s dominant RB19 to work on the upcoming RB20, whereas Mercedes has opted to make important modifications to its automobile idea within the hope of unlocking a big efficiency achieve over the winter.
“We’ve got seen with McLaren an replace unlocked a second of lap time and with AlphaTauri coming robust on the finish and Aston Martin over the winter, there’s a key to unlock dramatically extra efficiency,” Wolff mentioned.
“I feel us making this trustworthy evaluation that this automobile is rarely going to be ok to combat for the championship, and we’ve got taken the choice in Spring that we’ve got acquired to return to the drafting board and give you one thing new subsequent 12 months. However Mount Everest is in entrance of us.”
Requested if he was optimistic about 2024 based mostly on the progress he had seen at Mercedes’ manufacturing facility, Wolff added: “I’ve by no means felt optimistic about something in my life. That makes it sound depressing, nevertheless it has protected me about managing my expectations and pushing more durable, as a result of I feel it’s by no means ok.
“That is why in the present day I sit right here with a bittersweet feeling that we’ve got received P2 in the present day however misplaced P1. So we’re altering the idea, we’re fully shifting away from how we laid out the chassis, the load distribution, the airflow, I imply actually there may be nearly each element that has been modified as a result of solely by doing that do we’ve got an opportunity.
“We might get it improper additionally, so between not gaining what we count on to catching up, making an enormous step and competing on the entrance, every part is feasible. When you ask me in the present day, there may be at all times scepticism, however that’s the mentality within the workforce that pushes us ahead to by no means quit.”