Toto Wolff plays down Mercedes’ Monaco Grand Prix hopes

Toto Wolff has set expectations low for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix as he admits the track isn’t Mercedes’ “happy place”.

The team have not been up to their usual standard this season but are still in the mix. Their latest outing at the Spanish Grand Prix was a boost for Mercedes with George Russell finishing third and Lewis Hamilton claiming fifth.

But the team prinicpal isn’t predicting a similar points haul in the upcoming race.

“We’ve seen another big step, probably we’ve halved the advantage to the front-runners,” Wolff told Sky. “But still there’s lots of way to go in order to be in the fight.”

Mercedes have only won one Monaco race in the last four seasons and so Wolff has evidence in his predictions. But he has conceded while he isn’t expecting much, he is “curious” about how they will do.

“Monaco in the past wasn’t our most happy place,” added Wolff. “Maybe because the car was the size of an elephant!

“I will be curious to see where we are this weekend. My expectations are lower than any other circuit... it’s going to be a learning point at least, to bring us back into the game.”

While Mercedes aren’t expecting much, Ferrari will be hoping to regain the lead in the driver standings. Charles Leclerc held the top position until he was forced to retire in Spain with Max Verstappen taking the win and top standings spot.

Leclerc is just six points behind the defending champion and it would be a fairytale for the star to regain top spot in Monaco, his home country. The driver said after his Spanish GP disappointment that reliability issues need to end for Ferrari.

“We will look at this issue and we cannot afford for this to happen many times in the season so we need to find the problem,” he said.