Toto Wolff Highlights Difference Between Ferrari and Mercedes

According to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, the biggest difference between Mercedes and Ferrari is the “attitude”.

The Austrian, who has presided over the German marque’s utter domination of F1 since 2014, says he runs Mercedes with a “modest” attitude.

“Part of our DNA is that we remain modest as we win,” Wolff told the Dutch magazine Formule 1.

“We do not take the win for granted — we do not see it as something that is self-evident or our right,” he added. “We do not go into every weekend with the attitude that winning is a must.

“If there are races in which second is the maximum and we have done our utmost, I have peace with it. I think that is the biggest difference between us and Ferrari,” said Wolff.

For the first time in the ‘power unit’ era, Ferrari put up a strong challenge to Mercedes’ domination in 2018, but the Italian team ultimately fell short due to strategic and driver mistakes.

Wolff continued: “They have the attitude that anything less than victory is not enough. They have to win. Being second is a failure, even if they still did their best.”

While all this is going on, Mercedes have announced that their new W10 Formula 1 car will have a shakedown run at Silverstone on 13 February.

The private event will come before the official start of pre-season testing in Barcelona from 18 February.

Mercedes have won the constructors’ championship for the past five years, while Lewis Hamilton won his fifth drivers’ title with the team in 2018.

Other F1 teams unveil their cars from 11 February although Williams, Haas, and Red Bull are yet to announce dates.

In terms of launches, Toro Rosso is up first on February 11th, followed by Renault a day later. Mercedes and Racing Point will unveil their challengers on the 13th while McLaren are treat fans to a Valentine’s day gift. Ferrari and Alfa Romeo are launching on 15th and 18th respectively.