Wolff: No 'silver bullet' to solve Mercedes problems

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has insisted that the Silver Arrows must solve its own problems, with a "silver bullet" not existing in F1.

The Brackley-based outfit have endured a difficult start to the 2024 F1 season, although it appears that a significant corner has been turned. 

A new front wing brought Mercedes to life particularly in last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, where the German manufacturer had the quickest car. 

George Russell, unfortunately, was unable to convert pole position into victory but did manage to salvage third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fourth.

Mercedes suddenly has a reason to be very optimistic, with a lot of its progress having come after focusing on themselves rather than looking at others for inspiration.

"There's no such thing as the silver bullet in Formula 1," Wolff told select media including RacingNews365. 

"And therefore it was a constant work of understanding what was wrong, and I know that everybody got tired by this answer. 

"But you can't reverse engineer the performance of the current team, we're looking at Red Bull and this is what we want our car to look [like], you really need to work your way through the problems."

'Jigsaw' solved?

Having been unable to compete with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari in all rounds prior to the Canadian GP, it was a real shock to see just how quick the W15 was. 

Had rain not featured in the Canadian GP, then a Mercedes victory would have been a likely outcome, with Russell or Lewis Hamilton having topped most sessions during the event.

A big issue for Mercedes this season has been its simulations not correlating to performance on the circuit; however, this seems to have been overcome.

"Then it didn't seem to correlate between the simulator and the track, and the car was difficult to drive and the ride was not good," added Wolff. 

"They had the bouncing or bottoming, coming back. And then we had a clear indication of what we were missing in the jigsaw. We put the piece in and I think now it's fine."