Mercedes stops development of the W12 to focus on 2022

This weekend, Mercedes once again couldn’t do anything against the domination of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton even declared that it was impossible to keep up with the Dutchman’s pace. After yet another race without a win, the seven-time world champion certainly didn’t appreciate his team principal’s announcement.

Toto Wolff announced after the Grand Prix, to our colleagues at Sky Sports, that Mercedes would stop the development of the W12 to focus on next year: « It’s a very, very delicate decision because we will have a new regulation next year and a completely different car. We need to find the right balance, almost everyone is working on [developing] the next car. Some can still bring new parts, Red Bull did [at the Styrian GP]. It’s their strategy, which is a success because today, they were on another planet. », he said.

The Austrian believes that Red Bull should also focus on the development of the next car, in order to ensure better results: “The championship is not only about the arrival of new parts. At this stage, those who continue to bring parts, like Red Bull, should focus on next year’s development. And that means that the whole operation of the car, with the settings, tires, and optimization, will become very, very important. It wouldn’t make any sense to go back and spend a week or a month on the current car because the gains would be far from those of the 2022 car,” he added.

Even if Mercedes stops the development of the 2021 car, Toto Wolff ensures that the Brackley team will not sacrifice its season and will continue to fight to win races: “But that being said, it’s far from over. We had a very difficult weekend in Austria. We had no weapons in our arsenal to win this race on the track. But we will win other races this season, we will secure pole positions, and we will fight as hard as we can for every position,” he concluded.