Silver Arrows scrambling for results at Suzuka

Fear not, Mercedes fans, Toto Wolff has got a plan – or so he says in the team’s statement in the build-up to Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

“The car has shown signs of strong performance on occasion, but we’ve struggled to deliver this at the critical moments across the first three races,” Wolff said.

It has likely been quite an emotional rollercoaster for supporters of the Silver Arrows thus far, given the contrast between their second-place finish on the constructor's standings last year and their best finish of the season thus far with George Russel in sixth at Bahrain.

A double DNF at the last Grand Prix certainly wouldn’t have done much for anyone’s confidence.

Suzuka, where Mercedes hopes will be the light at the end of the tunnel for their W15 car, may not provide the most favourable conditions to make a statement.

“Suzuka, with its famously fast sweeps mixed with some low-speed content, plus elevation change, will provide a different challenge to the circuits we’ve raced at so far,” Wolff explains.

Expectations of 2021, 2022, and 2023 world champion Max Verstappen out for vengeance after a first DNF in years likely won’t help anyone on the grid.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Junior, winner of the last Grand Prix on 24 March in Australia, seems intent to keep the winning going through 2025 as he insists it’s time to “speed things up” with his contract negotiations.

Sainz could for the most part take his pick with more than half of the driver contracts up in the air for next year. No doubt he is hot property at the moment. The Spaniard, however, shares that there is nothing to share at the moment pertaining to his future. Fans will have to wait and see.

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