Toto Wolff confirms major issue with Mercedes F1 car

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has stated an issue with the rear axle of the W15 car has caused a slip back in form at recent races.

The Brackley-based squad has endured a torrid run of late, particulary on Kimi Antonelli's side of the garage.

The Italian has failed to score at six out of the last seven grands prix, with the poor stretch broken up by a maiden podium at the Canadian Grand Prix.

While team-mate George Russell has been able to bring home points, the Briton has largely been a non-factor since his victory in Montreal in June.

Mercedes reverted to an older suspension specification on Friday at Hungary in a bid to give its drivers more confidence.

Explaining the issue Mercedes has run into at recent events, Wolff told Sky DE: "It wasn't a problem with aerodynamics. 

“The problem with the new rear axle, which we used for a few races, was mainly in the fact that it made the rear end completely unstable and it didn't give any confidence. 

“With the old rear axle we do have that [confidence], now that we have the old suspension reinstalled. Both drivers say the problem is gone, so that's considerably better.”

Mercedes ended the second practice session with both drivers inside the top 10.

Russell confirmed he had more confidence behind the wheel but asserted more pace needs to be found if it wishes to be competitive towards the front of the order.

“It always feels good when you're a bit higher up the leaderboard,” Russell said on Friday.

“We just need to find that last little bit before it starts clicking again for us.

“It wasn't a breakthrough, but it wasn't like we were expecting it to be a breakthrough. We've just got to keep chipping away.

“It definitely felt more enjoyable to drive, we both had a bit more confidence. We are looking at the top half of the leaderboard, that's an improvement on Spa.”