Toto Wolff assumes that McLaren will still become dangerous for Mercedes. For now, the Silver Arrows seem supreme in 2026. After a one-two in Melbourne, Russell and Antonelli also got off to a good start in Shanghai; the pair occupies the front row for the sprint race on Saturday. Lando Norris follows in P3, but seems significantly slower than his Mercedes rivals. Wolff explained what McLaren – which has the same engine – does differently than the works team.
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The new Mercedes power unit seems to be the biggest asset for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in this first phase of the F1 season. Controversial engine tricks aside, both had much more speed than the competition in both Melbourne and Shanghai. Customer teams McLaren, Williams and Alpine basically have the same equipment, but were also significantly slower during sprint qualifying in China.
‘Won’t be long before McLaren is competitive’
“Everyone has a different concept and McLaren has, without going into detail, made a number of decisions that are very different from ours,” Toto Wolff explained at Sky Sports. “Think, for example, of the gear ratio in the gearbox. Those kinds of things can turn out well or badly. But let’s not forget that this is also just a brand-new car,” he emphasized. According to Wolff, it is logical that McLaren is behind in these first Grands Prix. “The works teams have an advantage, but that is only a matter of time.”
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“You see what the others are doing, you have exactly the same hardware, you have exactly the same software, but the question is how you can best simulate that,” he added. “I have no doubt that McLaren has a formidable team structure and that it won’t be long before they join the fight at the front.” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella previously hinted that Mercedes is withholding engine knowledge from the customer teams. “Normally, the team knows the development plans quite well before the car hits the track,” he reacted after Melbourne. “This is the first time that we, as a customer team, feel like we are lagging behind. Discussions with Mercedes have been ongoing for weeks.”
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