Why Mercedes is not tempted to write off 2025 for new-rules head start

Mercedes may still be chasing answers about Formula 1’s current ground effect cars, but it has no interest in writing off next year to get ahead for 2026’s new rules era.

The German manufacturer has had a rollercoaster of a season; having started on the back foot it delivered a run of victories before the summer break but has since slipped back in recent races.

And with it still playing catch up against the ultra-consistent McLaren squad, the temptation to give up on closing that gap for next year in favour of making an early effort to get ahead for the new regulations that are coming for 2026 is obvious.

However, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says the squad has clear targets in delivering wins each and every season – so there is no question that it will push on as much as it can for 2025.

“This is the crux of the matter every year, and especially if you have such a big regulatory change, are you going to compromise one year or the other?” said Wolff, in an exclusive interview with Autosport.

“But I’d like to take it from Niki’s [Lauda] motto, when being asked. ‘Would you rather win this one or the next one?’ And he says, ‘Both.’

“Sometimes it is much less complex than one thinks. Probably the transition of people and capability into the 2026 regulations is going to happen a bit earlier than it would under stable regulations, but it’s not going to be game-changing.

“Nobody’s going to switch the machines off in January, unless you are really nowhere. But there is nothing to gain, because between P10 and P7 doesn’t make a difference for us anyway. We are fighting for victories and podiums, and cannot write it off.”

Current car confusion

Mercedes’ determination to continue throwing everything it can at the current rules comes despite it scratching its head at times over what makes things click.

Wolff explained that the fluctuating form of the top teams in F1 was very hard to understand.

“This variance in performance from race to race, or over a few races, is very difficult to compute, because what looks like an unchanged car can go from race winning to P6,” he said.

“The only team that is not a victim of that is McLaren, who I think have such a solid baseline and a less…