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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has denied that the Silver Arrows are playing mind games when it speaks highly of Ferrari.
Mercedes has taken four one-two finishes so far in 2019, but has consistently stated that Ferrari looks stronger while playing down its own pace.
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Ferrari locked out the front row in Bahrain, but has otherwise lost out to Mercedes in qualifying and the race at the opening four events of the season.
“I’m sitting here and looking like appearing to be - what can I say? We are not talking ourselves down,” Wolff said in Baku.
“It is that we see a strong Ferrari on Friday and on Saturday, and I still believe that Charles [Leclerc] was probably the fastest man on track [in Azerbaijan], but like in Bahrain, it didn’t come together.
“You can say now, ‘Yeah, stop saying these things — it’s the fourth one-two in a row’, but it is still very much our mindset.
“We still believe that there are so many things we need to understand better and improve.”
Wolff believes that the efficiency of the Mercedes team granted it the wins, rather than simply utilising its own pace.
"Even in the race [in Azerbaijan] at times [Pierre] Gasly and [Max] Verstappen were the quickest and then it was us again,” he added.
“Then, in the beginning, it was Charles who was flying on the mediums. So I think that what we did in the first races was put all the things together.
“The team didn’t do any mistakes, the strategy calls were right, the drivers didn’t put a foot wrong, and that made us win the first four races. Then when you look at the other side, they had more problems.”
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
Replies (4)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Mercedes are simply focusing on the job at hand. They are totally unconcerned about making headlines. I find it preposterous for people to suggest that they have been samdbagging every race. Yet, nobody ask if Ferrari are the ones doing fast laps during practice for headlines. But I guess it's always easy to hate on the donating team
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I'm kinda mixed on this. They are clearly focusing on the work at hand, as you say, however I think that part of that focus result in them kinda sandbagging and playing mindgames. Which is fair game, mind, it is strategy and far more fair than some of the other stuff Merc' are ready to do when they feel threatened. I'm in the camp where I don't mind sandbagging, I just get pissed at Ferrari for being shitty at strategy.
Pistonhead
Posts: 556
Anyone that criticises four 1/2 finishes knows nothing about F1. It really is a team game and as a team, Marc are streets ahead of the rest. RBR had a spell where they capitalised on high downforce (aero), people got tired of them winning, but you just have to tae your hat off and say they got it right - time and time again. Mercs dominance won't last for ever, you gotta enjoy it whilst it lasts.
f1ski
Posts: 726
I feel they are talking themselves down because the competition is getting closer and they feel they are one step from not winning all the races and want to throw the competition off their scent so to speak. I feel that ferrari are too focused on being fast for 1 lap and not able to comprehend the proper way to gather data to be able to tune a car to win on race day. RBR understands this but don't yet have an engine to deliver the goods.