After the embarrassing failure in Australia, one would expect Toto Wolff to be there for his team’s moral support. Although, Mercedes will have to go to the Japanese GP without their team principal. Wolff had communicated that he won’t be attending all 24 races this season. Every year, this has been a trend that the Austrian opts to stay home and not travel for select race weekends, and this year Japan has again made that list.
In the last two years as well, the 52-year-old did not travel to Suzuka. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Mercedes’ driver development boss, took over the reins from Wolff for the 2023 Japanese GP. However, as reported by SoyMotor, he won’t be doing the same this time.
D’Ambrosio is reportedly one of the names on Ferrari’s radar. The Belgian former racing driver could join current Silver Arrows star Lewis Hamilton, as he moves to the Maranello-based outfit in 2025. So, it is understandable why Mercedes could choose to refrain from making him the temporary boss for the weekend.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff will be absent from the next race in Japan. #F1 https://t.co/UdCuBYDItH
— Philip Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) March 25, 2024
James Allison becomes the other obvious choice, who is the senior figure besides Wolff. When the Austrian boss missed the Brazilian GP in 2019, Allison handled the team operations well. Although, for now, the Brackley team will worry more about their technical shortcomings with the W15, rather than worrying about Wolff’s absence from one race weekend.
Allison or some of the technical team would want to focus on nailing the weekend in Suzuka and understand the car better, besides getting a good result. While Wolff cited that they will want to experiment more, if Mercedes can start to turn a corner in Japan, they could pivot on that philosophy and stick to what may work for them.
After the double DNF in Australia worsening their 2024 campaign, they will hope for a big comeback at the Japanese GP. Still, the team’s boss being absent in the paddock could be a demotivating factor for the entire squad.
Toto Wolff believes it is fair to question his role at Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton’s power unit issue in Melbourne forced him to retire on lap 17 of the Australian GP. The team then looked to George Russell to add some points but things only got worse. On the last lap, Russell crashed out while trying to get past Fernando Alonso, thus ending Mercedes’ weekend without any points to show.
️ “We haven’t swallowed a dumb pill since 2021”
Toto Wolff feels Mercedes hasn’t lost any of its strengths despite its struggles in the #F1 ground-effect era and says he does not feel the need to step aside ⬇️https://t.co/INfpGlGWsK
— Autosport (@autosport) March 25, 2024
In light of this dismal performance, when Toto Wolff was asked if he was the best person to lead the Brackley-based side, he gave a somber response. He said to Racing News 365 that his contribution to the team has to be constructive.
“We have a physics problem, not a philosophical or organizational problem,” said Wolff. “We haven’t swallowed a dumb pill since 2021.”
Wolff concluded his statement by inviting people to present solutions so that the problems at Mercedes can be fixed. As things stand, they remain fourth in the championship standings – far behind Ferrari and McLaren in terms of performance.
