If Red Bull’s Christian Horner is the genius mastermind, then his counterpart in Mercedes is a tortured perfectionist. Toto Wolff is notorious for his fierce obsession with details and every little aspect. And this stretches beyond the racetrack as the team principal admitted that one of his first acts in Mercedes was to ensure clean toilets.
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In a recent interview published in the Harvard Business Review, the Mercedes team principal revealed the extent of his perfectionism. When he first visited the Mercedes factory in Brackley, he noticed the state of the toilets in the team’s hospitality area.
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“It was dirty, and I thought: that cannot be. This is our home on a race weekend and where our sponsors come with their families,” said Toto emphatically.
Formula One F1 – Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria – July 10, 2022, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff ahead of the Grand Prix REUTERS/Florion Goga
Toto Wolff then proceeded to hire a hygiene manager to travel with the team. Not only that, Wolff had himself demonstrated to him how to clean the toilet, “how to put the brush back, how to disinfect the handles, and so on”.
When asked if his obsession with hygiene was the secret to the Silver Arrows’ success, Wolff considered it to be a part of the big picture of success.
“It’s the sum of details,” the team boss believes. “Cleanliness and order are part of it. Everything is spotless and organized. I think that affects how we look after the cars too.”
DIVE DEEPER
It is true that everything on and off the racetrack matters in the task of running a team and getting them to multiple championships. And if ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’ is to be believed, then Mercedes’ Toto Wolff must be very close to achieving Godliness.
Toto Wolff analyzes what went wrong with Mercedes this season
Toto Wolff might be aiming to race like the gods with his cleanliness agenda, but lately, Mercedes has been falling short. Last weekend’s US Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen narrowly beating Lewis Hamilton to the finish line.
Red Bull finally swept away the Constructor’s Championship, beating Mercedes and Ferrari.
Formula One F1 – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – December 10, 2021 Mercedes Executive Director Toto Wolff in the team principals press conference FIA/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVES
Sky Sports asked Toto Wolff about his thoughts regarding their performance. The team principal answered, “We can almost trace it back to a single decision last October, we thought we could run the car on the deck, but you can’t, so it’s a small level of hamster steps.”
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“The pace maybe was two-tenths off today,” said Wolff. “But this is exactly what was missing at the end.”
“But credit to Red Bull, I mean they’ve done a mega job all year, Max was really strong, so they winning the Constructors’ Championship today is what they deserve,” Wolff conceded.
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WATCH THIS STORY: A Tense Mercedes Title Fight to Verstappen’s Podium Controversy: Most Controversial Moments of the US GP
The Mercedes team principal is nothing if not fair, so his comment to Red Bull comes as no surprise. Hopefully, we’ll see Mercedes make a powerful comeback in 2023 with the lessons of this season.
