Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes in F1: “For me, the 2027 season has already started. We will fight for the World Cup, but next year will be extremely difficult for us”

The titles of Drivers and Constructors of the 2026 F1 season are already decided in favor of mercedes and its young star, Kimi Antonelli, who two weeks ago became the youngest champion in the history of the F1at only 20 years old. But what happens in the last three races of the World can say many things about what will happen in 2027, since next year’s cars will be evolutions in many cases of these F1 cars.

Finish the course upline to Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrarifighting face to face with Mercedes, could be a warning. AND Toto Wolff, head of the star team, is aware of this.

Mercedes has been the car to beat, powered by an engine that, together with the electrical part (50% power of the current F1 power units) has been the most dominant due to its energy management.

However, Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes, is clear that, after what has been seen since the middle of the season, the dominance of Mercedes after the change in regulations (implemented in 2026) It has nothing to do with what happened when they began to dominate in 2014 at the beginning of the hybrid era.

With that success of 2014, they were able to begin an overwhelming dominance that lasted until the 2021 academic year.. After sweeping for 7 years, in eighth, for the first time they met a rival at their level, a Red Bull with Max Verstappen with a performance very similar to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. And there, Max dethroned Lewis.

Toto does not believe that such an overwhelming era will be repeated like that one because in this first year of regulations, they have already seen how Red Bull has caught up to them at the end of the season. But not only that: also McLarenwhich was the only team to present evolutions in Brazilwith 4 appointments remaining, taking an important step forward, with a clear improvement in his car.

And then there is Ferrari, with a good car aerodynamically speaking, a car that performs very well in curves, but which, however, does not have the top speed on straight lines of its rivals. due to the initial mistake of betting on a smaller turbo in its engine. If they figure it out in 2027, they can be a tough opponent in the fight with Hamilton and Leclerc at the wheel.

And Toto already warned of this at the end of the Brazilian F1 GP: “At the start of the race, Kimi (Antonelli) was just flying. It seemed like it could be our day, but the competition has become increasingly stronger,” said the Austrian.

“Between Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and ourselves, there are four teams with a real capacity to win races. We will be in the fight for the World Cup in 2027, but I have no doubt that next year will be extremely difficult for us. For me, the 2027 season has already started,” expressed the head of the Brackley team.

The data doesn’t lie: attention to Red Bull and Verstappen

What it refers to Toto Wolff It is the trend of recent months. mercedes He started off with a bang and won the first six races with authority: the first, Russeland the next five, Kimi Antonelli. That start and maximizing his performance in the majority of events allowed the young man from Bologna perfectly manage their advantage, also taking advantage of their opponents’ irregularity.

McLaren warned by presenting several improvements that allowed it to take a huge step forward, but then they were diluted. The progress of the team Woking It never caught on. AND Ferrarialthough with good cornering, was not up to par. Mercedes took advantage of the fact that what would be her greatest opponent, Verstappenhe didn’t have a good car until too late: from Baku.

In Azerbaijan, Red Bull introduced some new features to its car that definitively gave Max wings. And from there, the data is striking. Max was 6th in the World Championship after the Spanish GP in Madring, with 145 points, 66 points behind Russell, 46 behind Hamilton, 41 behind Norris and 22 behind Leclerc.

Six races later, Max is already 2nd in the World Championshipwith 279 points and In these last six games he has added almost as many points (134) as in the previous 14 (145).

In fact, The F1 World Championship classification from Baku would have Max Verstappen as the leader with those 134 points, with Kimi 36 points behind the Dutchman in 2nd place (98 points) and Leclerc in third place at 82, with Hamilton in 4th with 70 points and Norris, 5th with 60.

AND If the World Championship had started in the 7th race, since the first non-Mercedes victory this year, in Barcelonawhere Ferrari triumphed with Hamilton, Verstappen would remain the leader with 236 points, despite only having a great car in the last six races. Kimi would follow him in 2nd place, two points behind (234), and third place, Kimi Antonelli, would be far behind, with 188, compared to Russell’s 174, Leclerc’s 173 and Hamilton’s 171.

That huge step forward Red Bull in Baku has allowed Max to add three wins from the last six, two second positions and a third place: he has never been off the podium since Bakuand also climbed into the drawer in the previous quote in the Madring.

That great final improvement from Red Bull is a huge warning for Mercedes towards 2027. Red Bull has already found the way forward and everything learned should serve them well for 2027. Perhaps McLaren can also say the same if in these last three events its step forward is confirmed with the new features presented in Brazil.

In that sense, Norris admitted the evolution and the best feelingsalthough he believes that his car is still behind Mercedes or Red Bull in pace, although closer than before.

What is Mercedes preparing?

The doubt is in mercedes. Toto Wolff They already warned a long time ago that they were focused on the 2027 car. Perhaps they opted for the escape strategy: putting all their effort at the beginning to distance themselves, and then focusing on creating the 2027 car more carefully, while managing their margin during the remaining races.. Perhaps that hides a giant step in 2027 to start again with a bang. Or maybe, not.

For now, the only certainty is that this year, among the greats, they were among those that presented the least evolutions, with two large packages of aerodynamic improvements: in Canada and in Sepang.

Mercedes’ second evolutionary package It started badly, but in the last few races, they have managed to understand it and make the most of it. At least Kimi has been able to do it, while Russel highlighted that the optimal working window of the car with the new products is much narrower. They must work on this at Mercedes by 2027.

They need to start strong and with a step forward, because now they know that their rivals will also start at the top, unlike the beginning of 2026. Hence, Toto says that “the 2027 World Cup has already started.” Everything you understand and evolve in this finale can help you next year.