Mercedes' struggles in F1 German GP no cause for alarm

The Brackley-based outfit appeared to have got on top of its degradation problems when Nico Rosberg delivered victories in the Monaco and British Grands Prix.

However, both Rosberg and team-mate Lewis Hamilton suffered a return of its woes at the Nurburgring last weekend, highlighting just how much work the team still needs to do.

And matters are further not helped by the fact that Mercedes cannot try out Pirelli's new tyres that will be used from the Hungarian Grand Prix because of its ban from next week's young driver test.

Wolff is calm about the situation though, and thinks things are not as bad as some have suggested.

"Germany was not a huge disappointment, it was just disappointing," Wolff told AUTOSPORT.

"It is not nice to see a car which won seven days before not performing in the same way - going from a top car back to a midfield performance.

"But we know the car is pretty quick. A car doesn't deteriorate in just seven days."

NO BIG RETHINK NEEDED

Wolff thinks the fact that the car is still proving fast - albeit unable to get the best out of the tyres in hot races - shows that the problem is one that can be cured by hard work rather than the need for a wholesale rethink.

"It highlights that we have to put our heads together," he said. "I think we have pretty intelligent people and we have to get on top of the problems."

Mercedes had hoped for a late reprieve to at least try out the Hungarian tyres at Silverstone, but it now looks almost certain that it will not be allowed.

Wolff says his team accepts the non-running at Silverstone will be a hindrance, but thinks that his engineers should make the most of the extra time at the factory to keep working on solutions.

"Obviously it is always a disadvantage if you can't test," he said. "But we knew where we were, and we have to stick to the best possible thing we can do. At least we get three days of thinking now."