Wandering Wolff: How Mercedes F1 boss has even more success in mind

“This is the current reality and I love every little bit of it and the team enjoys the challenge. And the tough moments are painful, but so valuable and teach us so much. We always ask ourselves: ‘Can we keep our heads, can we hold on to our values ​​in a serious struggle?’

“We show that we do, but of course there are our own expectations and brutal honesty about flaws. And I think those principles and the idea of ​​strengthening the problem and not blaming the person led us to win seven championships. “

This no-blame culture is critical to the success of Mercedes and is often misunderstood. Because F1 teams are such large entities, it is so easy for them to descend into politics as the energy is directed towards blaming other departments for mistakes rather than fixing them. In one of its earlier forms, the Brackley team is known to suffer from this.

Instead, it is about ensuring that individuals are happy to hold up their hands for their mistakes rather than fear the worst. Look back over the past few years and you will find plenty of cases where Mercedes admits mistakes, be it simple numerical entry errors causing strategic errors or underperforming the car’s cooling performance in 2019, and that reflects the internal culture. It’s not about scapegoats, it’s about improvement. That’s one of the reasons Mercedes has faced rivals with similar resources (Ferrari and Red Bull) over the years, but has always beaten them so far.

Some of Wolff’s competitors would argue that he was playing political games with a plethora of technical instructions – rule clarifications, so to speak – aimed at curbing flexible bodies, skillful tire pressure manipulation, and even pit stop speeds. But that fits in with a sport in which every legitimate advantage must be sought – especially since Wolff has a keen sense for fair play in the regulations. As he demonstrated during the 2019 controversy over the operation of its Ferrari engines, which resulted in the Italian team working with the FIA ​​to formulate engineering guidelines to stop what has been suspected (but never proven) is taking he takes the rules very seriously.