Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff may have celebrated victory at the Austrian Grand Prix with George Russell leading home Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but after the race his attention also turned to Ferrari. The Austrian questioned the Scuderia’s relentless development programme, expressing surprise at the number of upgrades the SF-26 has received and hinting at concerns over the Formula 1 budget cap.
Wolff questions Ferrari’s continuous development
Despite Mercedes returning to the top step of the podium at the Red Bull Ring, Wolff admitted he has been closely watching Ferrari’s development strategy throughout the season.
“Between McLaren, Red Bull and ourselves, we introduced a major upgrade package in Montreal and then only small developments at the following races. That’s what everyone is doing. The only exception seems to be Ferrari, who continue to bring significant upgrades. It almost looks as though they have unlimited resources,” Wolff told reporters.
He then referred to reports suggesting Ferrari is preparing another upgraded power unit later this season.
“We’re expecting a new engine from them. If that’s true, it would mean development started at least six months ago. The rules are the same for everyone… at least I hope they are.”
According to Wolff, the budget cap prevents Mercedes from following the same development path.
“We simply don’t have enough room within the cost cap to introduce as many new components as they are. I hope that towards the end of the season this situation changes and that they won’t be able to continue bringing further upgrades. Logically, that’s what should happen.”
“I’m not surprised Verstappen finished ahead of the Ferraris”
Looking back at the race itself, Wolff admitted he was not surprised to see Max Verstappen emerge as George Russell’s main challenger, while Ferrari never looked capable of repeating the form that had delivered Lewis Hamilton victory in Barcelona.
“Not at all,” Wolff said. “Red Bull is one thing, but Max Verstappen is another. I feel like he has practically won every time he has raced here at Spielberg. It’s one of his favourite circuits and the car worked well. As for Ferrari, honestly, I don’t know what happened to them.”
George Russell’s turnaround
Wolff also reflected on George Russell’s impressive response after a challenging run of recent races, explaining that confidence and mentality played an important role.
“It’s an environment with enormous pressure. You have a young and very quick team-mate, and when negative results arrive you begin to overthink everything. It’s not really a negative spiral, but a spiral of overthinking. You constantly ask yourself what you could do better and eventually forget the essence of this sport, which is simply driving the car.”
That mindset was exactly why Wolff sent Russell a straightforward radio message during qualifying.
“I simply told him to drive the car. Don’t overthink the strategy or what Kimi is doing. Drive as fast as you can, keep an eye on tyre temperatures and don’t destroy the tyres. That’s all that matters.”
Antonelli’s race was decided on the opening lap
The Mercedes boss also praised Andrea Kimi Antonelli, believing the young Italian had the pace to fight for victory after recovering from a difficult opening stint.
“His race pace was excellent. If you exclude the first few laps, he was the fastest driver on track. He attacked too hard through the opening corners, made mistakes under braking into Turn 1, then again at Turns 3 and 4. But that’s exactly what I want to see from a young driver. That aggression probably cost him the chance to win.”
Wolff also defended Mercedes’ strategy after questions were raised about Antonelli’s final pit stop.
“If we had stopped earlier, we would have exposed him to the risk of being undercut by Oscar Piastri. In the end he had fresher tyres, which is why he was closing the gap so quickly. We waited until the last possible moment because when Piastri pitted he was less than two seconds behind. I believe it was the correct strategy. Kimi’s race was decided in those opening laps.”
The championship remains wide open
Finally, Wolff urged everyone not to overreact to the latest race result, insisting the Formula 1 championship will be decided over the course of the entire season.
“In Formula 1 we move far too quickly from euphoria to despair. One weekend you’re a genius, five days later everything suddenly becomes a disaster. We have to stay balanced because championships are decided across all the races. For me, it’s still a three-way fight, and George can absolutely remain in contention for the title. As for Verstappen, you can never rule him out. This weekend the biggest difference was once again made by him, because he always manages to extract the maximum from his car.” – the Mercedes team boss concluded after the race which was held at the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria.
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