Mercedes ‘more fired-up than ever’ to hit back after ‘dissecting’ F1 Monaco GP

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff says his side is “more determined and fired-up than ever” to bounce back at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix following its worst race of the year in Monaco.
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Mercedes AMG F1 W12 makes a failed pit stop that ended his race.
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Mercedes AMG F1 W12 makes a failed pit stop that ended his race.
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The reigning world champions endured a nightmare weekend a📖nd struggled for competitiveness around the streets of Monte Carlo, with Lewis Hamilton only able to take seventh while Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire from second thanks to a botched pit stop.

Mercedes’ dramatic collapse, coupled with victory for Max💯 Verstappen, meant that Red Bull leapfrogged its chief rival in both world 🧸championships for the first time during the V6 hybrid era.

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Red Bull heads Mercedes ღby one point in the constructors’ championship going into the Baku weekend, while Verstappen holds a four-poi🐟nt advantage over Hamilton.

“Weekends like Monaco are the ones t🍸hat keep you coming back for more,” Wolff said.

“Nothing comes easy in this sport, and that’s why we ♉love it. We know that if you are not at, or close to, 100% then it will bite 🔯you.

“On Monday morning I ꦬsaw the same energy as when we returned from the Bahrain test and that pleases me. We dissected the weekend, asked hard questions of ourselves, and learned some crucial lessons. I wish we could have been back racing last weekend.”

Wolff does not expect Baku to suit Mercedes’ W12 challenger as well as Red Bull’s 2021 car but says the team is determine🌌d to recover from its Monaco misery with a strong showing.

“While it’s a very different ꦆstreet circuit to Monaco, we expect it to be another tricky one for us, not particularly suiting the characteristics and traits of the W12,” Wolff added.

“Red Bull will ✃be strong again, while both Ferrari and McLaren have made great progress recently. A key focus for us has to be exploiting the opportunities available to𝓀 us on those outlier tracks which aren’t suited to our car – when the points are there, we need to grab them.

“There will be swings back and forth in this fight which is exciting for the sport and exciting for us. We’re expecting another chal🎀lenge on the city streets and after the results of the last race, we’re more determined and fired-up than ever to bounce back in Baku.”

Despite arriv🌞ing in Baku off the back of its second victory from the ope꧋ning five races, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stressed his side is under no illusions that Mercedes will “bounce back hard”.

“I think Azerbaijan is a very diffe🐲rent kind of s⭕treet circuit to Monaco,” he said. “Very, very long straights.

“It’s been a very strong track for Mercedes in the past so we are not under any illusions that I am sure they’re going to 🤡bounce back hard there.

“We’ve got🅷 to go there and attack the weekend eওxactly as we have every race so far this season.”

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