Toto Wolff is delighted about Mercedes' updates: "I am really proud! It is admittedly better, but..."

Toto Wolff was pleased with the performance of the Mercedes team during free practice in Spain, after both cars placed in the top three in FP2. The Spanish Grand Prix weekend marks an important event in the F1 development race and the reigning Constructors' Champions, Mercedes, seemed to make a step forward in practice. For the team that had to hobble behind Ferrari and Red Bull for the first five races of the season, the Mercedes W13 has proven to be a difficult car to extract speed from. The porpoising effect was fully present in this season's Mercedes, but their latest upgrades seem to have reduced this problem.

“I am really proud!”
Team boss Toto Wolff spoke with many team members after Friday's free practice and praised them for their development efforts. "Both companies have worked so hard," Mercedes boss Wolff told Sky Sports F1. "Brixworth has really gained ground on the other power unit manufacturers and it's fantastic to see that. I am really proud. As for the chassis, we'll get there, we had a second solid Friday just like we had in Miami. If the grid continues to improve on Saturday, then we'll have to see if we are able to maintain that kind of performance and at least be in the mix or firmly in the top three."

"It is better, but..."
Mercedes proved less susceptible to the porpoising effect at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the car remaining stable on the straights. However, both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton warned that the car was still bouncing in some corners. When asked about the trade-off between porpoising on the straights and porpoising in the corners, Wolff confirmed that the problem still occurred in the fast corners. "It is better, but not yet at a point where the drivers feel truly comfortable in the fast corners," Wolff added. "In Turn 3 and Turn 9, we lose a lot of time. We just need to figure out what we're going to do about that on Saturday."