Wolff: We don’t fire anyone for failure.

For the second year in a row, Mercedes is inferior to the leaders, but team leader Toto Wolff said no one is personally responsible for that.

Toto Wolff: “We have been using this approach within the team since 2013. We blame the problem, not the person. We have a safe environment, we have not fired anyone for failure to fulfill duties. We always find solutions.

If a department doesn’t work, it’s my fault. So I didn’t provide the right framework and didn’t hire the right people.

There is no point in blaming someone for not doing a good enough job, because everyone is doing their best. This is the way of thinking in our organization. Within the company we never blame anyone, which makes me very proud.

I always only ask myself. I constantly question myself and my contributions, I feel like I am part of a team. When times are tough, I wake up in the morning and ask myself, what should I do?

No, I haven’t thought about leaving. I believe that I can still contribute to the team in my field. It helps us stay together, even though sometimes I get too emotional.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found a person about whom I would say, “I think this person has more energy, more drive, more skills and all these factors that are important to be a team leader.”

We have seen situations where the team leader is no longer performing at his or her best. Think of Ron Dennis or Frank Williams and you won’t want to hold that post until the end.

I always think about what the team structure will look like in the future. Maybe everything will change dramatically. There should be no team leader or CEO anymore.

But now, as head of Mercedes Benz Motorsport, I am responsible for 2,500 people who create the power plant, the chassis and all other projects at Mercedes.

I am the owner of the team. So I look at it from a twenty year perspective, the next twenty years. And I would like to fight for the championship. I hope we win many more races and titles.”