Lewis Hamilton and George Russell sent fresh warning by Toto Wolff ahead of F1 2024

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell failed to win a single race between them this year as Mercedes struggled, and will be looking to end their respective droughts next season

Toto Wolff warned his drivers to manage their expectations ahead of a crucial 2024 season for Mercedes.

This year, for the first time in more than a decade, the Silver Arrows failed to win a single race. On a personal level, Lewis Hamilton is currently enduring a drought of more than two years since he last stood on the top step of a podium.

Both he and George Russell will be chomping at the bit to get back to winning ways next year. It will be a huge challenge, though, given how dominant Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team have been over the past two campaigns.

Team principal Wolff acknowledged that as he was quizzed on the biggest challenge facing Mercedes in 2024. In a video released by the team, he made it clear he doesn’t want any of his colleagues and subordinates to have their heads in the clouds.

“It’s to set the expectations right because we have a huge mountain to climb,” the Austrian replied. “There’s a team that is so successful and we have a big gap to close. At the same time, I believe we’ve taken some proactive steps to close that gap.

“Is it going to be good enough? I don’t know – but we’re going to see it in testing and then in the first race in Bahrain. I’m super excited. I’d like to start going now. It’s the stopwatch that’s going to tell us what job we’ve done.”

Reflecting on a difficult 2023 campaign, he added: “We learned a lot. The races and the seasons that are difficult are the ones where you learn the most, and we always say, the days we lose are the days our competitors are going to regret because we learn the most.

“I think there are so many lessons that we learned as an organisation, as humans, but also technically that will be beneficial going forward. I wouldn’t be able to pick one out, though, because there are so many things that we have looked at that will help us progress over the next year.”

Wolff has already admitted his team is taking a big risk to close the Red Bull gap. “We are changing the concept. We are completely moving away from how we laid out the chassis, the weight distribution, the airflow,” he said of Mercedes’ W15 car development.

“I mean, literally, there’s almost every component that’s being changed because only by doing that, I think we have a chance.” But he also warned: “We could get it wrong also. So, between not gaining what we expect, catching up and making a big step and competing in the front, everything is possible.”