Wolff defends Mercedes as customers question gap

Mar.10 (GMM) Williams team principal James Vowles has become the latest to question how Mercedes’ customer teams can close the gap to the works squad, adding his voice to McLaren’s Andrea Stella a day after the Australian GP exposed a significant performance gulf.

“What Mercedes is doing with this power unit has really surprised us,” Vowles said. “It wasn’t until qualifying that we realised how far behind we were.

“We’re talking about roughly three tenths of a second per lap.”

He stopped short of accusing Mercedes of withholding anything.

“I’m confident that Mercedes has provided us with everything we need, because they’re always very thorough. I’m sure that what they’ve delivered will enable us to do what they do. I just don’t know how at the moment.

“We’re asking ourselves ‘what have we overlooked, and how can we reach the same level more quickly?’

“It’s not as simple as you might think. They have knowledge we don’t. We have to acknowledge that we don’t possess the same level of sophistication. It’s up to us to catch up.”

Mercedes’ Toto Wolff responded briefly.

“You can never implement things to please everyone, but I think the most important thing is that we try to provide good service,” he said.

Some in the paddock went further, with Spanish outlet Marca suggesting Mercedes may have deliberately concealed their true pace in Melbourne to limit the data rivals could extract through the ADUO system – which allows teams additional development upgrades every six races based on championship position.

Russian racing driver and columnist Egor Orudzhev was blunter still. “I don’t know if there is a conspiracy, but it wouldn’t surprise me,” he told Championat. “If I were the Mercedes factory (team), I’d save some for myself.”

Dutch former F1 driver Robert Doornbos was unconvinced by the conspiracy theories, telling Ziggo Sport the answer was simpler. “They don’t just have a dominant engine. McLaren defeated the factory team last year on basically the same engine.

“The whole package is correct at Mercedes – mechanical, aerodynamic, and the engine is reliable and fast.”

He pointed to George Russell’s race pace as evidence. “If you rode onboard with Russell, he was still on rails with those old tyres. He didn’t have a moment of upset anywhere.”

Meanwhile Stella raised a broader safety concern, suggesting the crashes involving Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen in Melbourne may share a common cause rooted in the new power units’ behaviour.

“I can’t say for sure whether the incidents – especially those that are uncharacteristic – are related to the power unit or not,” he said. “These powerplants can be quite aggressive when delivering all their power – 1000 horsepower unleashed all at once.

“These accidents weren’t near misses. They are a very strong indicator that work needs to be done. We need to do this work as a Formula 1 community.”

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