Mercedes made progress despite difficult Australian Grand Prix, Toto Wolff insists

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the his squad made good progress at last weekend’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, despite being off the pace off frontrunners Ferrari and Red Bull once again.

The Silver Arrows have been unable to challenge for race victories so far this season, with their new W13 car struggling with intense bouncing at high speeds on the straights, and looking fundamentally slower than its rivals through the corners.

Ferrari and Red Bull, meanwhile, have managed the transition into F1’s new era more successful, and have competed with one another for the win at the opening three rounds of the campaign. Red Bull’s poor reliability, however, has seen Mercedes twice inherit podium finishes after retirements for Max Verstappen.

The second of those podiums came in Melbourne on Sunday, with George Russell taking his first top three finish for the team since finally making the switch from backmarkers Williams over the winter off-season, and Wolff says that result was sign of further progress for his team despite being off the pace again.

‘We are leaving Melbourne in a better state than when we arrived – more lessons learned, more data to analyse and more points on the board,’ Wolff explained to F1.com. ‘Clearly, we haven’t got the pace yet to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull but we know where we need to seek performance.

‘Seeing Lewis and George perform at an exceptionally high level with a tool that is clearly not on the pace of the leaders is another example of the spirit of this team. We are optimistic yet realistic on the timeline for improvement and the advantage our competitors have, but P3 and P4 helps us leave Australia with a good feeling.’

Mercedes have won eight consecutive constructors’