He's certainly not the type to back down when things get tough. Toto Wolff is motivated like us: it is true that he is a 33% shareholder of the Mercedes team, but it is equally true that his role as team principal has been talked about for a long time, in a world like that of F1 which he replaced in two years eight of the ten team managers. La Stella has extended his contract as team boss by three years and from the Brackley deck he expects to start a relaunch of the black arrows after two very difficult years for wrong, very wrong single-seaters.
Having kicked out Mike Elliott as technical director and recalled James Allison, Mercedes wants to challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen with the W15. In an extraordinary exclusive interview granted to Gianluca Gsparini of Gazzetta dello Sport, Wolff looks at the 2024 season from different points of view.
“The success of a team depends on the motivation and energy of its people. A team is like a living organism that must adapt to circumstances. What we are doing now is forming the organization to come. We have an Everest to climb against Red Bull and Ferrari and McLaren are very strong, but 2026 is already on the radar with sustainable fuel, different power units and aerodynamics.”
The Austrian manager does not move the axis to 2026… “It would be wrong. Placing all your energy on 2026 would be dangerous. You always have to travel as hard as you can because that's how you learn. Red Bull are ahead in terms of package, including driver, but it's good to try to beat them already in 2024 or the following season. You can't start a year saying you're not going to win. Those who have driven on the simulator said that the new one doesn't look like the car of the last two years.”
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG
Wolff firmly believes in Lewis Hamilton… “I underline this strongly. There's a reason why Lewis has broken records and won seven world titles: because his skill is next level. If we give him a good car that he can trust he can get back to the front of everyone.”
The trust comes from having brought James Allison back to the technical top… “He's one of the smartest people I've ever met. It helped him to stay away from the ring for a year: to distance himself and return after the Elliott period. I couldn't have hoped for anything better.”
Toto also touches on the most burning issue: “The FIA investigation opened and closed in two days has caused great damage to the world of F1. If we want to make sport more and more professional we must try to bring transparency where there is none and establish standards of the highest possible level. My position is this. I can't speak for Susie but she's a stickler. If you type Susie Wolff on the web, the investigation comes out as the first piece of news: a bullet has been fired from the rifle and she can't go back”.
Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
Mohammed ben Sulayem, FIA President
It is inevitable to talk about the FIA even if there is no direct mention of the president, Ben Sulayem… “I believe that the FIA has many important tasks as an institution, the first of which is to govern with ethics, transparency and integrity. This includes how you manage the sport together with F1 and the teams, but also how the rules are set and controlled. It's not a good thing when people of experience and quality leave. Steve Nielsen, who knows this sport from every angle, is gone. Then he left Tim Goss, Nikolas Tombazis' right-hand man. And still others have resigned. As teams we can't do anything about it, but when such good people suddenly leave an organization it creates a void. You have to ask yourself why so many left and did it now.”
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