Toto Wolff outlines clear stance on Mercedes 'reliability gremlins'

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted he would prefer a competitive engine that has reliability concerns rather than the opposite scenario.

The Brackley-based squad has sprung out of the blocks this season with the most competitive package, winning seven out of the nine grands prix staged so far.

However, its impressive car performance has been countered at times by reliability issues, which caused George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to DNF in Canada and Barcelona, respectively.

But Wolff outlined that Mercedes has the luxury of dialling back how intensely it runs the engine as it pursues a fix to the concern.

"I think we are such a performance organisation on the chassis and engine side, we want to squeeze everything out,” Wolff told media including RacingNews365d. 

“But I'd rather dial back, a little bit, something that is really good, and fix some of the reliability gremlins, rather than running behind on performance.

"So far, we've won seven races out of nine. And I'd rather have this than slow and unreliable."

Mercedes was defeated for the second time this year last time out in Barcelona, where Ferrari and Charles Leclerc climbed to the top step of the podium.

At the start of the race, Antonelli lost track position to Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton with a poor start, a picture that was frequent at the start of the year.

However, Wolff insisted the bad getaway at Silverstone was down to driver error.

“It looks like more driver excitement getting out of the blocks, with both similar,” he said.

“But I'm saying that with the limited amount of information that I have.”