{"id":469578,"date":"2026-02-12T05:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/469578\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T05:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:47:10","slug":"we-have-to-get-our-act-together-mercedes-boss-toto-wolff-points-to-very-very-strong-max-verstappen-on-first-day-of-testing-in-bahrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/469578\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We have to get our act together\u2019 \u2013 Mercedes boss Toto Wolff points to \u2018very, very strong Max Verstappen\u2019 on first day of testing in Bahrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toto Wolff made clear that Mercedes \u201chave to get our act together\u201d as pre-season testing develops at the Bahrain International Circuit, after taking note of a \u201cvery, very strong\u201d Max Verstappen and Red Bull.<\/p>\n

Mercedes made a smooth, productive start to 2026 and F1\u2019s all-new era of regulations at the recent Barcelona Shakedown, where drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli racked up plenty of laps aboard the team\u2019s W17 challenger.<\/p>\n

However, when the F1 paddock reconvened in Sakhir for the first official pre-season test, Wolff turned the focus away from the Silver Arrows and onto the competition \u2013 in particular talking up Red Bull and their all-new power unit.<\/p>\n

While he noted that \u201ceverything goes according to the plan\u201d for Mercedes so far, Wolff continued: \u201cIt isn\u2019t smooth sailing. We have complications on the car balance, which are a little bit more articulated here than they were in Barcelona, obviously due to the hot conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a very, very strong Verstappen, so we have to get our act together, all of us, and then maybe by the end of the test we will understand more whether what we\u2019ve done is good or good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushed on how impressed he has been by Red Bull, with Verstappen topping the first morning<\/a> of the Bahrain test, Wolff joked: \u201cWell, I was hoping that they were worse than they are!<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve done a very good job. The car, the power unit, are the benchmark at the moment, I would say. Then, obviously, you have Max in the car. That combination is strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolff also took a moment to give Mercedes\u2019 stance on the compression ratio chatter \u2013 and a perceived advantage his power unit division have been able to find \u2013 doing the rounds in the paddock ahead of the new season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think how this whole thing has come about is blown out of proportion,\u201d he said. \u201cIf our competitors would know how little difference it makes, the standpoint would be a little bit silly to give it so much importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is F1, how it\u2019s always been, there\u2019s political lobbying, trying to influence how the regulations are made, and that\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercedes and the rest of the F1 field will be back in action when testing resumes in Bahrain on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff made clear that Mercedes \u201chave to get our act together\u201d as pre-season testing develops at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-469578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}