Mercedes is currently battling to extend its record of seven consecutive drivers and constructors’ championships and faces a tough challenge from Red Bull for the titles in 2021.
Mercedes’ record of victory spans the entire V6 hybrid era of F1, but the team has produced a large amount of new talent during its dominating period.
The last change in management position at Mercedes took place in early July, when Technical Director James Allison switched to the role of Chief Technical Officer, paving the way for Mike Elliott to fill his old position.
Mercedes F1 boss Wolff previously spoke of the need to keep nurturing new talent and continuing the team’s legacy by instilling pride and responsibility.
In an interview with Autosport, Wolff emphasized the importance of the team adapting to the challenges, and said Mercedes had to keep reinventing itself in order to move forward.
“A successful sports team cannot be frozen as a static organization, but has to develop further because it has to adapt,” said Wolff.
“It’s a mixture of seniority and young enthusiasm and curiosity. Our team has always reinvented itself.
“When I walk through the company, I still see the faces of all the people who were there from the start, but I see so many young men and women.
“Sometimes it feels like a university campus, which is great when you see next-generation leaders. And so much effort went into developing this next generation.
“This is really something beautiful to experience personally and as an organization.”
The Mercedes team at work in the garage
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Mercedes will try to extend its narrow lead at the top of both championships in Belgium this weekend, as F1 returns after the summer break and 12 races can still be played by the end of the year.
In the constructors ‘championship, the team is just 12 points ahead of Red Bull, while Lewis Hamilton is just eight points ahead of Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship.
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It was Mercedes’ biggest challenge in a Formula 1 title race since 2018 against Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari, but Wolff felt the fight turned out to be a “great learning experience” for Mercedes.
“We’ve talked all these years about how we would deal with it if the day came when our performance wasn’t good enough,” said Wolff.
“So we saw it at work.
“And that’s the time when all of the values we had built on the team, all the resilience we talked about, and all the energy that would be needed basically went live.”
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