Mercedes team principal Wolff despondently described last weekend in ꦗB🎶razil as his worst in 13 years.

Lewis Hamilton finished eighth and George Russell retired from 11th, a stark drop-off after Mercedes had claime🔯d a podium fiꩲnish in Mexico.

Schiff said on the podcast: “We all ꧟heard Toto’s words💦. It seemed that he was not in a good place.

“I think tho𒅌se words were quite strong. I’m not sure⭕ if it was an emotional reaction.

“They lacked pace, they used up the tyres which is uncharacteristic for their car, and they had reliability issues🗹. A lot of things went wrong but they had two podiums, they were moving in a positive trajectory.

“Although it was a dram🌌atꦦic result, it seems like it may be a once-off.

“We’ve🐼 seen that car, in the past, as Toto described it ‘on a knife-edge’.

“I’m sure they’re having major debriefs now.

“I’m not sure if we sh🍸♍ould take Toto’s reaction with a pinch of salt. I think it was pessimistic outlook.

“Recent hist🐼ory suggests they aren’t in such a terrible place.”

Schiff believes the dreadful Brazil wee♚kend could aid Mercedes’ decision over their concept for next year's W15: “There has been doubt on the concept perspective.

“Do they stick to this concept? Do they not?

“They had gone in the direction that they weren’t. But when the car starts performing positively they have doubts abo꧙ut the choice that they made.

“This was a learning curve.”

D🦄amon Hill added: “They know it’s wrong, they’ve admitted that.”

The♑ir ‘zeropod’ philosophy is widely expected to be ditched in 2024 for a design more similar to Red Bull’s RB19.

Mercedes have moved James All✨ison back into the role of technical director, while Mike Elliott has left the team.

Hill said: “There are key people who have drifted 🌊away from the team. Are we seeing the effects?

“In America they looked gre♓at except they were 🦩disqualified.

“Maybe they erred on the side of safety too much. These carﷺs are incredible fickle. The F1 stands for Fickle, at the moment, in Formula 1.

“Everyone is up and down. In previous races, Aston Martin were nowhere, 🐓now suddenly they’re up there and look💟ing good.

“You don’t need much to be out of the window. The exception i🦹s Red Bull but maybe even they would say that Singapore caught them out.

“🧜These ca♐rs are dependent on precise setup for each track.

“I know Toto operates a no-blame culture but he seemed to take all the blame himself, he was willing to admit that it wasn’t acceptable. I𒅌t was a tough weekend.”

Schiff said: “There has been confusion with this car, when t🐷hey set it up, it does things they weren’t expe♏cting,” she said.

“We thought they’d passed that phase.

“This weekend proved again that it’s all about the operational window of where the car does and ▨doesn’t work. They’re still on the fence.

“It is possible that these ca𒉰rs are just so sensitive to setup.”