Wolff reveals Mercedes concern after recent F1 shunts

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has highlighted his squad is “on the back foot” with the F1 cost cap due to its recent shunts.

The Brackley-based outfit has endured a difficult run of late with George Russell suffering heavy crashes in the USA and Mexico respectively.

Last month at Monza, FP1 stand-in Kimi Antonelli also had a large shunt during his maiden F1 practice session.

The series of on-track incidents have left Mercedes under pressure when it comes to ensuring it operates under the strict cost cap all teams must adhere to.

“Kimi’s crash at Monza, George’s crash in Austin, George’s crash here… I love a driver to push, and I’d rather him crash and we know what the car is capable of doing than not,” Wolff told media including RacingNews365.

“In cost cap land, that’s a tricky situation, so these three shunts put us on the back foot.

“Certainly the one that happened [in Mexico] was massive. We had to opt for a completely new chassis.

“That is a tremendous hit on the cost cap. And we probably have to dial down on what we put on the car.”

Wolff asserted Mercedes will be limited with new parts for the rest of the year with the cost cap in mind.

“So we will be having two upgrade packages in Brazil, two floors, but that’s basically it,” he said. “There’s nothing else that’s going to come.

“We have a certain limitation on parts where we need to be creative, how we’re managing this, and certainly there is an impact on how many development parts we can put on the car, because the answer is zero.”