Toto Wolff answered questions after the season

Toto Wolff, head of the Mercedes team, answered questions from fans following last season’s results, but also touched on the topic of preparations for 2024.

Q: What do you consider the most important moment of the season, and what do you least want to remember?
Toto Wolff: It’s hard to say because there were so many episodes where we had high expectations but they weren’t met. I think the last thing I want to remember is the stage in Brazil, where we were successful in 2022, dominating the whole weekend, winning both the sprint and the main race of the weekend, but in 2023 everything turned the other way.

This was probably the worst moment of the season, but I think the night in Abu Dhabi after the final stage of the championship was good. I’ve never attached much importance to second or third place because I always want to win. But when we finished second in the Constructors’ Championship at the end of the season, it was psychologically very important for the team.

Q: What has this season taught you?
Toto Wolff: A lot of. You learn the most from the experience of difficult races and difficult seasons, and we always say that the days when we lose, our opponents will later remember with regret. We have learned many lessons, both within the organization and as people, but also on a technical level. All this will help us move forward.

Question: Which race of the season do you consider the best?
Toto Wolff: It’s going to sound strange, but probably the one that led to us being disqualified. We prepared a modernized car for the Austin podium and all technical innovations worked properly. The car was efficient and we were chasing the leader.

You will say that in the end you were disqualified because the ground clearance of the W14 was too low. But still our car was able to reach a good speed, and that weekend was a pleasure for us. We were convinced of a normal correlation between the calculations obtained during the aerodynamic studies and the results on the real track, and this was good.

Question: Which moments in the past season were decisive for the choice of the direction of the preparation for 2024?
Toto Wolff: As the season progressed, we realized that our car lacked the stability we had hoped for, and this was probably due to the wrong approach to modernization. It also became clear that the chassis does not work well with the tires. All this can perhaps be called the most important lessons.

Question: Mick Schumacher will ride for Alpne in the World Endurance Championship in 2024 – what do you think?
Toto Wolff: Mick is a good driver and deserves a place in Formula 1, but there are no vacancies at the teams at the moment. He moves to the WEC, also a world championship, and will compete for the Renault factory team. I think he has a great opportunity and if he does well it will put him in racing shape. Maybe he will return to Formula 1.

Q: What is your favorite wildlife?
Toto Wolff: Dragonfly. What attracts me about it is the precision of the design, because the same goes for a Formula 1 car. Everything about the dragonfly seems perfect, but my answer to this question was quite spontaneous! (laughs)

Question: Your team finished the season in 2nd place in the Constructors’ Championship and you fought for that until the final stages of the season. But did you ever think that it would be more profitable to get 3rd place, because you would have more time for aerodynamic research?
Toto Wolff: It’s a good question, and there is no clear answer. If you had asked me at the start of the season what I would have preferred: a 2nd or 3rd place, I would have said that it is not that important. Third place compared to second does offer some sporting advantage, as you can spend 7% more time working in the wind tunnel in preparation for next year.

But then my attitude changed, because there is a financial component that is important for all our employees: we are talking about cash bonuses. I have to take care of everyone and not just lead the team. Even though the difference between 2nd and 3rd place is not that important from a sporting point of view.

And in the evening after the last race of the season we were very happy to take 2nd place in the Constructors’ Championship. I didn’t expect to experience this joy either, but it was important for me to see the overall excitement that everyone on the team felt.

Q: What are the key challenges we need to overcome in preparation for 2024?
Toto Wolff: Firstly, it is important to set the right level of expectations, because we are faced with very difficult tasks. The championship is led by a team that has achieved great success, and we need to catch up. However, we have already taken a number of necessary steps to reduce the backlog.

I don’t know if this will be enough. That will become clear during the pre-season testing and during the first stage in Bahrain. I’m very curious about what awaits us. And the stopwatch will tell us the truth; he never lies.