A nightmare Australian Grand Prix weekend for Mercedes has left team principal Toto Wolff accepting that it's entirely fair for people to question his leadership of the team moving forward.
After Lewis Hamilton struggled for pace all weekend and then retired from Sunday's race with a power unit issue, and George Russell crashing out on the final lap of the race, Wolff said he felt like "punching himself in the race."
"That was a disappointing race to end a difficult weekend," he admitted. "After taking a brave decision to start on the soft tyre, Lewis had made good progress initially but unfortunately his race came to an end shortly after.
Wolff said the power unit would be returned to Brixworth for analysis. As for Russell, his crash was attributed to "dangerous driving" on the part of Fernando Alonso. "It was clear that Alonso braked earlier than he had on previous laps.
"There were times in the race where we massively lacked pace and then there were times at the end when you compare like for like where we were doing okay," he suggested. "Still, not where we want to be."
All-in-all, Australia was just the latest blow for the former world championship winning team, which has been down in the dumps since new rules and regulations were brought in at the start of the 2022 season.
Hamilton has gone without a win in two seasons and is now defecting to Ferrari in 2025. The only victory for the team during that time came from Russell's win in Sao Paulo in 2022, a far cry from their previous dominant reign.
"Nobody feels positive about where we find ourselves right now, but we are focused on turning this around. It is tough to take but we will remain calm and composed."
Although Wolff announced earlier this year that he had extended his contract with Mercedes until the end of 2026, he acknowledged that he might no longer be the right man to revive the team's racing fortunes.
“I need to make sure that my contribution is positive," he told the media in Melbourne's Albert Park paddock after the end of today's torrid race. "I would be the first one to say, 'If somebody has a better idea, tell me'.
”I'm interested [in] turning this team around as quickly as possible," he insisted. "And I'll happily give my input on what that would be, or who that could be.
“I look at myself in the mirror every single day about everything I do. If I believe that I should ask the manager question, or the trainer question, I think it's a fair question.
“It's not what I feel at the moment that I should do, but if you have any ideas about who could turn this around, I would happily listen to them.
"I would be lying if I said at any moment I felt positive about the situation, and optimistic," he conceded. “You just need to overcome the negative thoughts and say, 'we will turn this around'.
"We started this season in the belief that this car was better than last year," he continued. "Today it feels very, very brutal. At the moment, it's a very tough time.
"You look at last year and look at these guys - Leclerc crashed out and Sainz was fourth and got relegated to outside of the top ten because of a penalty - [and now] they're 40s ahead of us."
But other teams such as McLaren have shown that there can be a way back to the top however deep the slump. "We have seen others who have shown that when you get it right, things can turn around quickly. That is what we are aiming to do.
“We have a physics problem, not a philosophical or organisational problem,” he reasoned. “We haven't swallowed a dumb pill since 2021, we just don't understand some of the behaviours of the car that in the past we would have done.
"On one side, I want to punch myself on the nose. On the other side, it's a fact that when you get things right, you can turn it around pretty quickly and continue to believe."
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