“It’s Designed Like a Formula 1 Car”: Toto Wolff Explains Why He Picked an Insect as His Favorite Animal

During the end of season Q&A, posted on Mercedes‘ YouTube channel, Toto Wolff was asked by a fan what his favorite animal was. Wolff’s answer at first might seem bizarre, but the Austrian has some solid logic behind it. As it turns out, it’s an insect: the dragonfly.

Wolff explained, “I like dragonflies. I think for me, thinking about it, because I never thought about it – why I like [the] Dragonfly, it is the preciseness. You know, everything is, it’s designed like. or it’s born like a Formula One car.”

Wolff admitted that his answer was very spontaneous. According to him, a dragonfly embodies perfection. The wings and it’s body are designed for precision and that’s what makes it akin to a Formula 1 car.

Throughout the video, Wolff was being posed with one underlying question. Fans are eager to know how the Silver Arrows keep themselves motivated in the off season for 2024, after struggling for pace and results this past season.

Toto Wolff showers praise on Mercedes staff for keeping his head in shape for 2024 battle

Wolff was quick to admit that he too, sometimes requires help and attention. However, the mood within Brackley is optimistic. He revealed that all the team members do their best to keep themselves and everyone around them motivated.

Mercedes ruled the turbo-hybrid era from 2014 to 2021. Naturally, when the regulation reset happened in 2022, and Mercedes got their concepts wrong, it was a huge slap in the face for them. Since then, they’ve been in a slump and the results have been plummeting their morale.

Toto Wolff on expectations for 2024:

“I believe we’ve taken some really proactive steps in order to close the gap. Is it going to be good enough? I don’t know, but we’re going to see in testing and in Bahrain and I’m super excited.”

“It’s the stopwatch that’s going to tell us.” pic.twitter.com/94UNpO5j9w

— Mercedes-AMG F1 News (@MercedesNewsUK) December 19, 2023

Nonetheless, the team is working tirelessly towards rectifying this situation. For the upcoming season, the team has devoted itself to developing the W15 into a championship contender. For this, Wolff has revealed on occasion that the team will try and experiment every possible concept to ensure they unlock the maximum out of the car.

That being said, bridging that gap to Red Bull is easier said than done. Arguably, the Milton-Keynes based team has nailed the latest regulations. With the RB19 winning all the races, barring one, the RB20 is expected to reach new levels of domination in 2024.