Mercedes underperformance 'an exercise in humility' – Wolff

Toto Wolff concedes that Mercedes' current inability to challenge its Red Bull and Ferrari rivals at the front of the field is "extremely painful" and "an exercise in humility".

The Brackley squad continued to struggle last weekend in Saudi Arabia, with George Russell finishing Sunday's race fifth while teammate Lewis Hamilton clocked in a distant tenth.

But the seven-time world champion's shock elimination from Q1 on Saturday implied that Mercedes' is still nowhere near solving the issues impacting its 2022 car, especially its chronic porpoising troubles.

As a fan of the sport, Wolff is delighted to witness the tight battle at the front between Red Bull and Ferrari. But as a team owner, it pained the Austrian to see Mercedes running so far behind for the first time in eight years.

"We were right in the middle of those fun games in the front, and talking as an F1 stakeholder and benefiting from a great show, that is really spectacular to look at," Wolff said.

"But on the other side, it is extremely painful to be not part of those fun games, and by quite a chunk of laptime deficit.

"We're not going to rest until we are back in the mix. But you're absolutely right: it's no fun at all. [It's] an exercise in humility, and it's going to make us stronger in the end, even though it's not funny right now."

• Russell: Solving porpoising would cure 99% of Mercedes' problems

Last weekend, Russell alluded to a significant amount of lap time hiding under the skin of Mercedes W13. The Briton reckoned that solving the car's proposing issues would allow it to snap at the heels of its Red Bull and Ferrari adversaries.

But Wolff admitted that it was difficult to assess the true relative performance of Mercedes' W13.

"We're not running the car where we wanted to run it," he said. "Therefore, it's very difficult to really assess what the lap time deficit is if we were able to run the car lower.

"I would very much hope that the gap is much closer to what we've seen today. But there are deficits everywhere."

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