Toto Wolff joined Mercedes in 2013, a year before their era of dominance in the sport began. However, upon the arrival of the Austrian boss, he noticed how gloomy their office was, and quickly understood how the lackluster mentality of the employees limited them to the midfield of the F1 grid.
The Mercedes name made a return to the grid in 2010 after the sale of Brawn GP. F1’s veteran engineer Ross Brawn became the leader at the Silver Arrows, and he asked Wolff to join him in his mission to guide them to the top. Unfortunately for Wolff, his first-ever visit to the team’s factory was underwhelming and uninspiring.
Very soon, he did grab the team by the scruff of its neck, and with Niki Lauda’s help, he brought Mercedes to the top. However, in a recent interview with Sky Sports (as a part of a soon-to-be-released documentary), he couldn’t help but recall how woeful his first-ever visit was.
A “dry cup of coffee” made Toto Wolff realize Mercedes’ state of affairs
While talking to Nasser Hussain in the documentary, Wolff recalled his first-ever meeting with Ross Brawn when he was joining Mercedes. There was an old newspaper and a coffee mug with dry coffee powder inside of it. The sight he saw was something Wolff didn’t appreciate.
However, when he brought this up with Brawn, he disagreed. “The answer I got was that the Daily Mail or the old coffee cup doesn’t make the car faster, the engineering does,” said Wolff, as quoted by the Express.
Wolff, meanwhile, being the perfectionist he was, completely disagreed with what Brawn had to say. The attention to detail in all aspects is what makes a team strong, according to Wolff.
“I disagreed because it shows whether you have attention to detail,” he added. “Whether you are a perfectionist or you seek excellence. And that starts with cleanliness and an immaculate environment, particularly in Formula One.”
Was Wolff the man behind Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton’s success?
When Wolff took over at Mercedes, they were struggling in the midfield. Just a year later, with the onset of the turbo-hybrid era, they became a force to reckon with. Between 2014 and 2021, they won eight consecutive constructors’ titles. Lewis Hamilton also enjoyed his most successful spell as an F1 driver, winning six championships with Mercedes.
Still, a lot of people feel that the main credit behind Mercedes’ success should be credited to Niki Lauda. In fact, sources like Business F1 claim that after Lauda’s death, things are unraveling at Mercedes once again.
Admittedly, their dominance in the sport has come to an end, and multiple people are blaming Toto Wolff’s poor leadership skills for it.
