Toto Wolff has expressed his excitement for the upcoming Formula 1 season after seeing Mercedes’ new car in action on the simulator.
F1’s new era of regulations has arrived, and with Mercedes having a history of strong performances following past rule changes, they’re widely seen as early favourites for next year’s championship.
Still, Wolff isn’t getting carried away. He’s played down talk that Mercedes are already setting the standard with their engine development at Brackley.
Carlos Sainz also had something positive to say about the power unit. Next season, he’ll be driving a Williams fitted with the new Mercedes engine, and if early reports hold true, we might see him back fighting at the front once again.
Wolff offers early thoughts on Mercedes’ new car after simulator session
During an end-of-year review posted on the team’s official YouTube channel, Wolff spoke about his hopes for the upcoming season and whether Mercedes could challenge for the top again.
“We had a very successful spell over those years,” he reflected. “We won eight championships, but we had difficult years that followed. One era ends, an era that we will be looking back on with a lot of positive memories.”
“But now we are starting in the real hybrid era. We are driving 50% electric engines with sustainable fuel. And that almost gives it one notch of innovation more.”
“And I just came out of the simulator watching the car drive,” Wolff continued. “It’s going to be fascinating.”
He went on to say, “It adds a completely new dimension, of which you don’t lose that real racing.”
“But energy deployment will be playing a massive part, and the intelligence of a driver—the driver who puts a lot of work into preparation for the weekend—just talk to them, they like it.”
Wolff downplays hype around Mercedes power unit for 2025 F1 Season
Mercedes’ new era in Formula 1 begins next season, and there are already rumblings about their power unit setting the standard on the grid.
Wolff didn’t dismiss the talk entirely but remained cautious. “Well, I would very much hope so, but I’m a notorious pessimist. The glass is always half empty, rather than half full,” he said.
He went on to highlight the challenges ahead: “And we’ve set ourselves targets on the power unit and the same on the chassis. Whether those targets were ambitious enough, whether we have missed the trick, whether our execution is going to be as faultless as it should be.”
“I don’t know. We’re going to see some glimpses of performance balance in testing late in January and then in Bahrain, obviously.”
According to Wolff, consistent development will be key throughout 2025: “But I think the name of the game is going to be constant development of tools throughout the season.”
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