Toto Wolff in front of the Chinese Doctor: “Strict development” / Formula 1

With 7th (George Russell) and 9th (Lewis Hamilton), the results in the Japanese GP were not good for the Mercedes team. After the fourth Formula 1 power test of the season, team boss Toto Wolff spoke about the difficult race, but also stressed: “Overall, the weekend was better than the results suggest.”

Even before the next race weekend in China, the Austrian explains: “The results did not necessarily show, but we made solid progress with our car in Japan. We look forward to building on that this weekend.”

The return to China is important for Formula 1, Wolff also explained. “As the world’s largest car market and second largest economy, China is very important to the sport’s global presence. The growth of Formula 1 has been strong in recent years and China is a key market in which we can continue this development.”

The 52-year-old is not expecting an easy weekend at the Shanghai circuit for a number of reasons: “With new cars, new tires and a changed track since our last race in China, a lot of unknowns await us there. It’s also the first sprint weekend of the year and that brings its own challenges.”

«The structural changes, including the second parc fermé, will improve the rhythm of the weekend – and the one-hour training still puts us under pressure to make the right decisions with imperfect information. “But we are looking forward to this challenge,” adds the Viennese.

World Championship Standings (after 4 out of 24 Grands Prix)

the driver
01. Verstappen 77 points
02. Perez 64
03. Leclerc 59
04. Sainz 55
05. Norris 37
06. Plate 32
07. Russell 24
08. Alonso 24
09. Hamilton 10
10. Walk 7
11. Tsunoda 7
12. Oliver Bearman 6
13. Hulkenberg 3
14. Magnussen 1
15. Alboni 0
16. Zhou 0
17. Ricciardo 0
18. Okon 0
19. 0 gas
20. Bota 0
21. Sergeant 0

Builders Cup
01. Red Bull Racing 141 Punkte
02. Ferrari 120
03. McLaren 69
04. Mercedes 34
05. Aston Martin 33
06. Running Bull 7
07. Especially 4
08. Williams 0
09. Sauber 0
10. Alpine 0