What Toto Wolff’s “we haven't got the money” claim really means for Mercedes

Mercedes has explained what team boss Toto Wolff meant when he claimed "we haven't got the money to put developments on the car" after Kimi Antonelli's Zandvoort defeat. 

Mercedes were the early pace-setters in the new era of Formula 1, with the team putting a heavy focus on pre-season developments in order to make the best possible start to the campaign. 

In a cost cap era, such a push carries a price, and although reliability meant the team didn't fully capitalise on its early advantage, Wolff maintains: “Did we spend too much at the beginning in the initial development? I don't think so."

The comments were met with a raised eyebrow from McLaren boss, who responded: “I would like to believe you, but I actually don't believe you."

Expanding on Wolff's comments, deputy team principal Bradley Lord told the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show: "It is the reality every team faces under the cost cap. 

"Formula One organisations must balance headcount and salary costs against the money available for hardware. They must consider how much of the current car was produced this year rather than last, how many spare parts to manufacture and how much stock to carry at the factory and with the race team. Every team is trying to find the optimum balance. 

"We continue to find performance in the wind tunnel, but the challenge is deciding when to convert that virtual gain into real parts. With a floor, for example, do you manufacture a new one as soon as performance is found, or align the upgrade with the point at which a fresh floor is required simply to complete the season? 

"Finding those efficiencies is the art within the science. A team in catch-up mode may make different choices from one that is leading. 

"By the time we race in Mexico, Brazil and Las Vegas, it does not necessarily follow that another team will have introduced more total performance; it may simply have released it in smaller, more frequent steps."

Wolff has previously questioned how Ferrari and McLaren have been able to consistently bring upgrades to the track, a situation which has seen the rival teams pick up a combined four race wins in recent events.

Explaining the practicalities of Mercedes' situation, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "Over the season, we will probably produce one fewer floor and one fewer bodywork package than those teams. 

"You could introduce new parts at every race if you had the money to manufacture them, perhaps using outsourced capacity. The principal constraint is cost. We would be concerned if the performance deficit exceeded the gains we can see ready to come through the wind tunnel. That is not the case. 

"We are reasonably confident that much of the current picture comes from the phasing of updates, although Zandvoort also left us asking whether we extracted the maximum from the car. 

"This close fight is broadly what we expected at this point of the season, perhaps even slightly better. Our larger package is targeted for the block of flyaway races later in the year. We are looking forward to it, but we are also enjoying the current challenge. George took pole for the Sprint, and we qualified second and third for the Grand Prix. We have not disappeared from the picture."