After the Formula 1 Australian GP, Toto Wolff highlighted that Mercedes will have a competitive season and warned about the challenge that Ferrari represents in the title race in 2026. The Brackley team achieved a 1-2 finish in Melbourne, with George Russell ahead of Kimi Antonelli, but the race showed that the fight with Ferrari will be intense.
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“There is a lot of satisfaction that I feel in the team right now,” Wolff stated. “When we had the streak of eight titles and then difficult years, we still won races and finished second in the championship. A strong 1-2 finish means that, for the season, you can fight for the world championship, and we hadn’t had that feeling for a long time. So you probably feel more grateful to recover in this way, after the difficult years,” he said.
The Mercedes boss also analyzed Ferrari’s performance in Melbourne: “Before the race, people said we would disappear at the front, but that wasn’t the case. We know they are strong at the start, and that happened. It was a direct battle between Charles (Leclerc) and George (Russell) at the beginning. At one point, it was a three-way fight with the two Ferrari cars and George, and eventually Kimi caught up with them. For me, the prevailing feeling is that we now have a fight with Ferrari,” he added.
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Wolff also commented on the excitement of the race in Melbourne: “There was concern that it wouldn’t be exciting in terms of racing, with ‘boost’ and overtaking modes, but that ended up making the race quite interesting to watch, especially on a difficult circuit for energy management. Let’s see how it will be in Shanghai, but above all, there is a certain satisfaction that Mercedes is back,” he concluded.
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