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Mercedes’ disappointing start to the season is an ‘exercise in humility’ according to the team principal and CEO Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff led Mercedes F1 team have won the last eight constructors’ championships in Formula 1. The indifferent start to the 2022 season definitely comes as a shock and surprise to the F1 community including the team’s co-owner, principal and CEO – Toto Wolff.
Mercedes are in second place in the constructors’ championship with 38 points, a significant margin behind the leaders Ferrari who have 78 points in their kitty. The F1 season has just started and there will be a lot of scope for recovery but this is certainly not the start that the team was expecting.
Wolff was evidently disappointed while speaking to the media about his team’s performance so far. “We have had the luxury of being right in the middle of those fun games for the last eight years. Now, it is extremely painful to not be part of those fun games by quite a chunk of lap time deficit. We’re not going to rest until we are back in the mix.” The German further added, “It is no fun at all and an exercise in humility. It’s going to make us stronger even though it’s not fun right now.”
Toto Wolff explained how he sorted out issues with Hamilton in his kitchen. Wolff revealed that Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg had several fall outs at the end of the 2016 season which could have resulted in Hamilton leaving the Mercedes team.
The season was a very succesful one with Mercedes winning both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships however there were frequent rifts within the team between Hamilton and Rosberg.
Rosberg claimed his first world title beating Hamilton, who defied team orders during the final race of the season in order to win the championship himself. Hamilton was very close to leaving Mercedes but that’s when co-owner Toto Wolff stepped in to amend the “marriage”.
“We met at a Christmas party in my home at Oxfordshire. I said we need to decide whether we want to work together or not. You want to win as a driver, I want to win as a team. Sometimes our different agendas are going to lead to conflict and we need to decide whether we can cope with that situation. We were in my kitchen”, said Wolff. He further added, “A purely business-related friendship has become a personal relationship. He’s a friend. Doesn’t mean we don’t argue anymore but now Lewis’s success is the team’s success and vice-versa.”
Can Wolff resurrect Mercedes’ 2022 F1 season just like he did with Hamilton 6 years back?
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