Toto Wolff has described himself as “really happy” over Mercedes’ smooth start to 2026 and F1’s all-new era of regulations at the Barcelona Shakedown, but admits the squad “simply don’t know” where they stand at this point.
Mercedes were one of the consistent runners during last week’s initial pre-season gathering – George Russell and Kimi Antonelli steadily racking up the laps aboard the W17, and sounding cautious optimism over their programme.
On Monday, Mercedes regrouped for their official team launch, with Wolff taking a moment to review the Shakedown from the Silver Arrows’ perspective, as well as pondering what the competition have been up to.
“I’m really happy how it went for us, in the sense of the interaction of the power unit, deployment and the chassis,” team boss Wolff commented to a select group of media, including F1.com.
“Having said that, we had a solid three days, that is something to build upon, but we don’t have really a performance picture yet. We haven’t seen Max [Verstappen] driving the [Red Bull] car fast, we haven’t seen McLaren and Ferrari doing what they can do. So, I would carefully refrain from saying it was great for us – we simply don’t know.”
With Mercedes most recently winning a title in 2021, when they clinched the last of eight successive Teams’ Championship crowns, Wolff was asked if anything but a championship challenge in 2026 could be classed as a failure.
“Failure is such a harsh word in a way,” he replied. “We’re into these regulations for the next few years. How I’d like to see this is the way we’re thinking about it is not always the optimisation on a weekend or a season, but seeing an upward trajectory.
“Whatever the case is that we’re coming out of the blocks… I’m certain there will be challenges, our own challenges, the relative performance against the others. Let’s see how it goes, let’s see if we have a car that has the potential to fight for a championship.”
He added: “As you know, I’m always sceptical about performance. I’ve too often set my expectations in the wrong place, and I just don’t want to come to a realisation in Bahrain or in Melbourne that we are not what we thought we were going to be, and that is a race winner.”
While the performance of the W17 relative to its rivals remains unknown, Wolff has no doubt over the potential of his two drivers, Russell and Antonelli, who continue as team mates for a second season.
Addressing Russell being the pre-season betting ‘favourite’, Wolff said: “It’s always nice if your driver is the favourite for the bookmakers, and I think he deserves it, because he’s one of the best. He’s shown us where the performance of the car is, and he’s been overall more than great to us.
“But also there, it’s always the best driver and best car that wins, and we haven’t yet proven that we have a package that is good enough. We haven’t been in the hot in Bahrain with the abrasive tarmac, which was always tricky for us. I hope the bookmakers are right, but I’ll believe it when we’ve seen performances that would confirm that.
“As for Kimi, he’s completely on the trajectory that we’ve always mapped out at the beginning. Last year, his first year in F1, with this huge circus coming upon him, the obligations with the media, the requests from sponsors, and fandom, and that’s exactly why we had very good performances and then some races where he struggled more.
“There’s no doubt about his speed and about his race craft. He’s going into his second season, he knows all the tracks, he knows all of you guys [the media], he knows most of the other requirements. I’m absolutely certain that it will be a good year for him.
“Having said that, I don’t think we should expect him to be like George all the time. George is one of the best ones, he’s been in F1 a long time, he’s a benchmark, and Kimi’s 19 and going into his second season. We’re going to see another step, that I’m certain about.”
