Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has denied that a much-talked-about “magic front wing” design has been the standalone reason behind the side’s recent Formula 1 revival.
The German marque encountered a tumultuous opening to the current campaign as it struggled with optimising an inconsistent W15 car across corner speed ranges.
However, Mercedes launched an aggressive development plan which has culminated in a turnaround which has led to successive race victories in Austria and Britain.
Lewis Hamilton ended his extended wait since December 2021 to claim a record ninth win at Silverstone on a weekend where Mercedes also locked out the front row.
Wolff has conceded that he was concerned Mercedes was experiencing another torrid season with the current ground effect cars until the side’s recent breakthrough.
“I think you consider that five races ago we weren’t even contender for the podium, which looked like the third year of non-performance, and then it clicked,” Wolff said.
“Suddenly everything that didn’t make sense, made sense, and the development direction is, or the results of the development directions in the old, back in the old days, we are finding performance through; we’re putting it on the car, and it translates into lap time, and that wasn’t the case for the last two years.”
But while Mercedes’ return to being a consistent threat at the top has been credited to a revised front wing introduced in Monaco, Wolff insists there are other factors.
“There was a moment where, led by James [Allison, Mercedes Technical Director], suddenly the data made sense,” he explained.
“And the gap, the way we, mainly the way we balanced the car, and how we could bring the car to a sweet spot. That was the main thing.
“It wasn’t a miracle front wing, it was more the balance that we achieved.”
Wolff has divulged that Mercedes will have even more updates to come to the two remaining rounds prior to the summer break as it bids to maintain this momentum.
However, the Austrian has cautioned that the Brackley-based squad can’t get complacent, despite Silverstone showing the upgraded W15 can now win races on merit.
“There’s more to come in terms of performance. We’re bringing, we’re bringing updates to Budapest and Spa,” he disclosed.
“But on the other side, we mustn’t get, mustn’t get carried away.
“We have a win last week, benefiting from the entangling [between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in Austria], but today we have an honest win.
“We had the real pace, you could see George [Russell] and Lewis in the lead, and then almost under all conditions, we were there.”
