Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says he felt like he had three drivers throughout the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as he discovered himself carefully monitoring Lewis Hamilton’s progress following the Brit’s change to Ferrari.
Hamilton left Mercedes after 12 seasons with the Silver Arrows on the finish of final 12 months, following a historic partnership that noticed him win six of his seven drivers’ titles.
Mercedes signed Italian teenager Andrea Kimi Antonelli to interchange Hamilton as George Russell’s team-mate, and the duo made a robust begin in Melbourne by taking fourth and third, respectively.
“When I was looking at the screens, at times, the way I looked at it is like we had three drivers because I was looking at RUS, I was looking at ANT and I was looking at HAM,” mentioned Wolff, referring to the three-letter abbreviations that every driver is given on the timing screens.
“And then you realise, well HAM is actually with Ferrari and is not with us anymore.”
Hamilton endured a vastly underwhelming first weekend with Ferrari, qualifying eighth earlier than ending tenth within the race because the Italian staff displayed a stunning lack of tempo.
Wolff added: “It was such a very long time, it is logical, you can’t simply say he is gone, and you do not care anymore.
“You very much care how he’s doing but obviously on track, he’s the competition and we need to beat the competition.”
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Lewis Hamilton speaks after his opening race as a Ferrari driver, ending tenth on the Australian Grand Prix
‘Mercedes have to get higher to struggle for race wins’
Mercedes have struggled because the present design rules, which change on the finish of this season, had been launched in 2022.
They seem to have began 2025 in a stronger place than any of their three earlier campaigns, however Wolff admits they should discover a important quantity of efficiency to have the ability to compete with pace-setting McLaren, for whom Lando Norris received in Melbourne.
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz displays on all the large speaking factors from the Australian Grand Prix
“I think it’s a solid first weekend, but looking at it always from the glass half-empty side, you have to say that the pace of the McLaren is just very strong,” Wolff mentioned.
“We need to get better if we want to fight on merit for race victories and for a championship, there is definitely something which we need to find.”
Wolff specified the flexibility of McLaren – and to a lesser diploma Purple Bull, who had Max Verstappen end second – to handle their tyres as the important thing space his staff have to catch up in.
He added: “We have a deficit in keeping the tyres in the window. They are able to do that better and get faster, and with us we are seeing a degradation because they’re simply getting too hot.
“I might have appreciated to be a bit nearer to them, however that is the fact.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Chinese GP schedule
Thursday March 20
- 5am: Drivers’ Press Conference
Friday March 21
- 1am: F1 Academy Practice
- 3am: Chinese GP Practice One (session starts at 3.30am)*
- 5.30am: Team Principals’ Press Conference
- 6am: F1 Academy Qualifying*
- 6.45am: Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 7.30am)*
Saturday March 22
- 2.25am: Chinese GP Sprint build-up*
- 3am: Chinese GP Sprint*
- 5.45am: F1 Academy Race 1*
- 6.35am: Chinese GP Qualifying build-up*
- 7am: CHINESE GP QUALIFYING*
- 9am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday March 23
- 2.40am: F1 Academy Race 2
- 5.30am: Chinese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
- 7am: THE CHINESE GRAND PRIX*
- 9am: Chinese GP reaction: Chequered flag*
- 10am: Ted’s Notebook*
*Also on Sky Sports Main Event
The F1 circus heads straight to Shanghai this week for the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
