“He Always Simplified Things”: Toto Wolff Struggling to Handle Pressure Without Niki Lauda’s Guidance at Mercedes

Between 2014 and 2020, Mercedes had the strongest car on the grid, and they were practically unbeatable. Lewis Hamilton, who joined the Silver Arrows in 2013, went on to create history by winning six world championships with the outfit. However, those days of glory seem very far away now with Mercedes and team principal Toto Wolff going through a very tough time.

When Mercedes first returned to F1 in 2010, one of the main people involved in the team’s senior management was three-time world champion Niki Lauda. Lauda was the one who laid the foundations of success and convinced Hamilton to leave McLaren and join them after the 2012 season.

Lauda oversaw a part of Mercedes’ dominant era, but sadly passed away in 2019, at the age of 70. Wolff took complete charge of the team and even become the CEO of Mercedes’ F1 team, but in 2021, things began to fall apart. After losing the drivers’ title to Red Bull and Max Verstappen that year, the widespread regulation changes of 2022 hit the team very hard.

Mercedes had a dismal campaign in 2022 where they finished P3 in the constructors’ standings, and so far, 2023 has been similar for them. Both Wolff and his star driver Hamilton are very frustrated with the team’s lack of progress in what was supposed to be a bounce-back season for them.

Toto Wolff misses Niki Lauda at Mercedes

Both Hamilton and Wolff are going through a tough time, even though they insist that they believe in the team’s progress in the coming months. During an interview, Wolff even said that he has lacking the direction to lead the team and pull them out of the tough time they are going through.

Wolff spoke about how calm things were in Brackley when Lauda was around, and how he helped the team focus on the things that truly mattered. The Austrian’s involvement in the team’s formative years were absolutely crucial for the team’s success.

“Niki always simplified things to really what mattered,” he said. ”I’m having to think what would he have said. And how would he have positioned and the two of us worked well together in that sense that sometimes oversimplification can lead you straight to the results. But there are lots of nuances.”

Wolff acknowledges Red Bull’s 2023 brilliance

In the opening two races of the 2023, Red Bull have been absolutely dominant. They have secured 1-2 finishes in both rounds, with both their drivers taking a win each. The RB19’s superiority has been an ominous sign for all the potential title rivals, many of whom have already accepted defeat.

Wolff too, has accepted the fact that catching up to Red Bull is almost impossible. Hamilton, in an interview after the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP went as far as making a claim that this year’s Red Bull is the fastest car he has ever seen in F1.