Toto Wolff Admits of Once “Disrespecting” His Teammates After a Disappointment in Brazil

Mercedes, over the last three years, has faced several disappointments. A series of hopeless weekends which they probably never saw coming in their heydays. It built up a lot of frustration and made even Toto Wolff—the most successful team principal of all time—lose his patience when expectations were not met in Brazil a year ago.

Wolff entered the 2023 Sao Paolo GP expecting Mercedes to win. They were the defending champions at Interlagos and were just coming off the back of two strong performances in Austin and Mexico City.

“We miserably failed,” said Wolff, recalling the race on the High Performance Podcast.

The Mercedes boss revealed that Mercedes ending its afternoon with just four points instead of getting a win made him furious. As a result, he unintentionally ended up disrespecting his teammates with his choice of words.

“I expressed that anger by saying this car doesn’t deserve to win a race,” he said. “By saying that I disrespected all the work of the people who were giving every day trying to make the car faster.”

Wolff admitted that he had upset a few people which ended up being a ‘big shake for him’. The host—Jake Humphrey—further asked him how he dealt with the aftermath to which the 52-year-old replied, “I acknowledged, and promised to do better in the future.” 

Unfortunately, Mercedes’ problems didn’t end there. And with another year remaining under the current regulations, their struggles might not end anytime soon.

Wolff has to tolerate mediocrity for another year

Mercedes managed to win three races in 2024 — a step up from their one win in 2022 and 2023 combined. Still, in the pecking order in the Constructors’ Championship, the Brackley-based outfit only faced disappointment, with the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull eclipsing them.

With the 2025 cars likely to be an extension of this year’s, it is unlikely that Mercedes will make a drastic step forward with regard to performance. Lewis Hamilton even called this year’s challenger—the W15—worse than the ‘bouncy’ W13 from two years ago.

Meanwhile, Mercedes announced on Monday that they wouldn’t be developing the W15 any further. Instead, the last three races would be used as experiments.

The final three races of the season will be used to carry out useful experiments for the W16.

[@Motorsport_IT] pic.twitter.com/Ptla2OuIk2

— Mercedes Hub (@MercedesF1_Hub) November 10, 2024

Amidst all this, Mercedes is also set to lose Hamilton, with whom they’ve achieved unparalleled success. The Silver Arrows may need to proceed cautiously as they head into the new year.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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