“The attitude that you are the winner is very dangerous”- Toto Wolff on prolonged success

“The attitude that you are the winner is very dangerous”- Toto Wolff on what leads to maintaining the new found success in Formula 1.

Toto Wolff has led Mercedes to exceptional success in Formula 1. Seven titles in a row and establishing hegemony in the sport will always be to his effective leadership.

Talking about the prolonged success, Wolff has remarked that the behaviour as a champion is one of the biggest factors of the length of your success.

“That is one of the most difficult aspects. To lay claim to a title would be the completely wrong approach. The attitude that you are the winner is very dangerous,” said Wolff to the Speedweek.

“That is why you have to counteract this; you have to motivate yourself again, set goals that everyone understands and sees as a new motivation for themselves. You can present and explain this quickly with PowerPoint, but everyone has to internalize it.”

What are the changes for 2021?

Wolff then was asked about the modifications Mercedes did amidst the chassis freeze this year, allowing little room for alterations for the teams ahead of 2021.

“The change to the sub-floor, from which a part is cut out, is decisive in technology. This forced a rethink in the entire concept. Therefore we cannot rule out that Red Bull Racing or Aston Martin will come up with a better solution.”

Meanwhile, he extended his full support to the duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, as George Russell and Esteban Ocon have developed massively in 2020 and would be in the final year of their contracts respective teams.

“Ocon is in the second year of a two-year contract with Renault and Alpine F1. Russell is with Williams this year. So there is some variation for 2022, but until then, our full support goes to Valtteri and Lewis.”

“We will evaluate in the middle of the year whether there will be a change in 2022. It is surely too early now to talk about scenarios for 2022.”

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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