Toto Wolff already looks ahead to the Belgian Grand Prix. For the Mercedes team boss, the upcoming race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps is the perfect opportunity to get his team back on track, after, in Wolff’s own words, having ‘missed too many opportunities’ recently: “We have a car capable of fighting at the front and scoring many points, but we have not yet turned that potential into the best possible results.”
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Mercedes had to watch for the second time at Silverstone as a Ferrari driver took the win. The Silver Arrows were already the clear favorites for both titles ahead of the 2026 season and proved that status with a dominant streak of six consecutive wins at the start of the season. Despite this good result, the team also struggled with several retirements, including George Russell during the recent Canadian GP and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Barcelona.
According to team boss Toto Wolff, the reliability of the W17 is the Achilles’ heel for his team. “The past few races have clearly shown where our strengths lie and where we need to improve,” the Austrian begins his analysis in Mercedes’ preview. “We have a car capable of fighting at the front and scoring many points, but we have not yet turned that potential into the best possible results. Reliability issues have cost us points, and in such a competitive championship, we cannot afford that. It makes no sense to be fast if we don’t bring in results.”
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‘Performing flawlessly’
Wolff therefore sees it as the challenge for his team to ‘perform flawlessly’ during the race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. “Spa is one of the big challenges on the calendar. Just like at Silverstone, energy management will play an important role, but the characteristics of the circuit demand different things,” he continues. “This is the last double race weekend before the summer break and we want to go into the break with a stronger feeling. We have missed too many opportunities recently. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore from this weekend onwards.”
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