Toto Wolff plays down ‘drastic’ changes for Lewis Hamilton

Christian Horner on Red Bull's success and hints at next step

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has insisted that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will not benefit from any drastic improvements when their new upgrade package is introduced at the United States Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows have confirmed that a number of final improvements will be made to their W13 challenger in Austin as they look to keep the pressure on Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship standings.

Ferrari currently lead Mercedes by a margin of 64 points with four races to go, meaning that a strong result will be required on the weekend for the Silver Arrows to ensure they remain in the hunt for a second-placed finish. Wolff has insisted that although their new upgrades are unlikely to give Hamilton or Russell a significant boost in terms of on-track performance, he is hopeful that they will be enough to mark a step in the right direction.

“The double-header in Singapore and Japan was a frustrating one for the team, as we didn’t put ourselves in the clean air we needed to maximise the race pace of the car,” said the Mercedes boss.
 
“We want to end this season strongly and the results of the last two races only make us more determined to do so. We need to use the limited track time available to make strides forward for this season and generate as much learning as we can in the development race for 2023, those two aims are one and the same.

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“Our final update package of the year will be brought to Austin. It won’t drastically change our fortunes but we’re hopeful it will bring us a step forward and closer to the front runners.
 
“Austin is a great city that we all love visiting. The Circuit of the Americas is a challenging track that often produces great racing, so we’re excited to be back this year and hopefully put on a great show for the fans.”

Mercedes had been slowly making up ground on Ferrari towards the end of the summer but have since fallen back after a net 31-point loss to the Italian outfit in Singapore earlier this month. They also still face the possibility of failing to win a Grand Prix all season, with Hamilton and Russell still waiting for their first victories in 2022 as a result of the team’s considerable performance gap to Ferrari and Red Bull.

The new upgrades for Mercedes in Austin will see changes made to both the aero and the weight of their W13 car, which was around 10 kilograms over the limit at the start of the year. Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has already explained that the primary purpose of the new package is to provide an insight into what needs to be done next year, with the Silver Arrows now switching the bulk of their focus to the 2023 season.

“It’s our final step of aero development and that will hopefully give us a bit more performance,” said Shovlin in a Mercedes video. “But importantly with every step, we are learning more and more and that learning we can carry into next year.

“Also, we have taken some weight out of components that will hopefully get the car closer to the weight limit.”

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