The Mercedes F1 team tasted enormous success under the leadership of Toto Wolff. The Austrian boss has been in charge of the team since 2013 and enjoyed six Drivers’ championships and eight Constructors’ championships at Silver Arrows. However, he is witnessing the decline of his team recently and has the fear that he might end up like Ron Dennis or Frank Williams in the future.
Speaking about this, Wolff said to international media as per F1 Maximal, “We have seen situations where a team boss is no longer at his best. I think of Ron Dennis or Frank Williams – you don’t want to hold on like they did.”
Notably, Wolff brought the example of Ron and Frank mainly because they were supreme with their respective teams [McLaren and Williams] during their peak. However, they also saw their decline massively while being in charge of the same teams respectively [McLaren and Williams were extremely dominant at one point, but they are no more the same now]. Therefore, the billionaire boss who has tasted success like the two of them now doesn’t want to go down in history the same way.
The 51-year-old also revealed that he wants to stay at his best in Mercedes, and has a vision of at least 20 years, partly because he is also a co-owner of the team. Wolff owns one-third of the team and is also the CEO. With this, the Silver Arrows boss also stated that he is yet to find his successor who is as energetic, enthusiastic, and skilful as him.
The fall of Mercedes and Wolff, and the will to rise
Mercedes witnessed indomitable success from the 2014 F1 season and it lasted till 2020. In these six seasons, the team and Toto Wolff won all 12 available trophies. Their decline started in 2021 when Red Bull arrived with Max Verstappen.
Following the introduction of the new regulations, the Silver Arrows were no longer the dominant side and often played second fiddle to Red Bull. Their decline was so harsh that Lewis Hamilton and Co. were able to pick only one win in 44 races.
However, Wolff has a constant motivation to help the team to go back to the top. The Austrian boss believes that the setback is temporary and they are ready to fight with Red Bull for the top spot in the coming years.
Citing this, Hamilton also revealed that they took things for granted and it was their complacency that got them there. Nevertheless, Toto Wolff would want to improve things at Brackley, and for that, if he needs to give up control, he would do so without any hesitation, but he wants to do it on a high and leave a legacy.
