Wolff, Mercedes’ defense lawyer: “The power unit is legal, the rest is bullshit”

Everything still to be understood Following the official presentation of the Mercedes W17, although the livery of the latter had already been revealed before the shakedown in Barcelona, ​​Team Principal Toto Wolff touched on various topics concerning not only the 2026 championship, but also those relating to the work carried out by the team in the days of testing in Spain. In the meeting with the media, the Austrian manager did not want to go too far, despite the greater number of kilometers covered by his drivers and the reliability of the car which impressed his opponents: “We still don’t have a clear picture of the performance – he commented – we haven’t seen Max Verstappen, the Ferrari or the McLaren driving fast. We haven’t been able to evaluate whether we have a good package during the three days of testing in Catalonia, even if the bookmakers put us in the lead. Furthermore, we haven’t been in the desert yet”, he concluded by referring at the next Sakhir tests. All statements that were added to other very similar assessments by Wolff, always very balanced in his post-Barcelona considerations: “I’m the type of person who sees the glass as half empty; I’m very skeptical and I’m not someone who spouts nonsense. I don’t want to exaggerate. Nobody in Barcelona did laps with little fuel. Everyone had their little problems, so it’s difficult to get an idea of ​​the real values ​​on the track already now.” Wolff’s response on the engine ‘case’ Another aspect on which Wolff focused was that relating to the ‘case’ of the Mercedes power unit and the protest from the engine engineers of the rival teams, who believe that the German company has found a way to increase the ‘hot’ compression ratio from 16:1 (as required by the regulations) to 18:1. In this respect, Wolff was very clear with a statement as short as it was decisive: “Our Power Unit is legal. There have been discussions with the FIA ​​not only on the subject of compression ratio, and they have always been positive. The rest is all bullshit! I don’t understand why some teams focus more on others than on themselves, regarding a very clear and transparent topic”.