Toto Wolff believes his team is now no longer favourites for the 2017 title, putting Ferrari ahead of Mercedes despite little to choose between the two teams on track.
After a difficult weekend in Monaco for Mercedes, with a car struggling to find and maintain maximum performance, it brought back memories of its ominous weekend at the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix.
“It’s painful, but we are not the favourites for this year’s championship,” Wolff said.
“At the moment it’s Ferrari. They have a very strong package and we need to rise to the challenge to prove once again that we are the team to beat.
“We have to fight with all that we are worth for every single win, pole position, a podium finish and every point. You can no longer expect that when you look at a timesheet the two Mercedes will be right at the top.”
Since the last race, Wolff stays Mercedes has been hard at work to get to the bottom of the problems found around the streets of Monte Carlo, putting in place measures to ensure it is ready to go for the next race in Canada.
“Everybody at the factories is working absolutely flat out to assess the current difficulties we are facing, to define our objectives, work with the data we have and then come up with the right solutions. Some of these fixes will be short term, others may take longer.
“I remember the troubles we had in Singapore in 2015, which hurt badly. We gave ourselves a deadline to address that setback before switching our focus to the next race in Suzuka, which we won. We’ve done exactly the same thing after Monaco – addressing the problems before turning our attention to Montréal. We know that this season is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Wolff is expecting another tough weekend for the team as the team continue to recover from their Monaco difficulties, however, he remains buoyant as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have always performed well at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
“I’m expecting an interesting weekend in Canada,” he added.
“It could be a tricky race for us in terms of the layout of the track. But, equally, it’s a circuit that suits both of our drivers. Lewis has won a number of times in the past and Valtteri has always gone strongly there for Williams. It will be about doing our homework right to give the drivers the car they need to succeed.
“We have two excellent drivers and we will hold true to our philosophy of letting them race each other to drive the team forward – even if sometimes it can be difficult because you can’t always have the one who is ahead in the championship winning.”
