Toto Wolff optimistic ahead of 2024 F1 season after ‘proactive steps’ from Mercedes

Mercedes finished 451 points behind world champions Red Bull in 2023 and did not win a single race

Toto Wolff is optimistic about Mercedes’ chances of challenging Red Bull next year after some “proactive steps” from the team so far in the F1 off-season.

The Silver Arrows, who won the constructors’ championship eight years running from 2014-2021, endured their first winless season since 2011 this year.

While Lewis Hamilton and George Russell helped Mercedes finish second in this year’s standings ahead of Ferrari, they were still a mammoth 451 points behind world champions Red Bull.

Though Wolff admitted after the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi that the team have to climb “Mount Everest” to catch Red Bull, he detailed his excitement ahead of testing in February as his team work on a new car following this year’s W14.

"It’s to set the expectations right because we have a huge mountain to climb," the Mercedes team principal said, in an end-of-season Q&A with fans.

"There’s a team that is so successful and we have a big gap to close.

"At the same time, I believe we’ve taken some proactive steps to close that gap. Is it going to be good enough? I don’t know. But we’re going to see it in testing and then in the first race in Bahrain.

Toto Wolff is optimistic ahead of the 2024 F1 season (PA Wire)

"I’m super excited. I’d like to start going now. It’s the stopwatch that’s going to tell us what job we’ve done."

Seven-time world champion Hamilton has not won a race in more than two years, while Russell has only claimed one victory since joining Mercedes at the start of 2022.

Red Bull, meanwhile, won 21 out of 22 races last year in an unparalleled year of domination, particular for three-time world champion Max Verstappen.

The 2024 F1 season, featuring a record 24 races, starts on 2 March with the Bahrain Grand Prix. Pre-season testing takes place in Bahrain a week earlier.