Toto Wolff joined Mercedes in 2013, and things changed ever since. Previously, the German team was not among the powerhouses in the sport. They used to be the engine partners for teams like McLaren, Aston Martin, and others. But when the Austrian billionaire executive joined the team as team principal, the team found a path to follow. That same year, Lewis Hamilton also joined the Silver Arrows coming from McLaren. Together, Hamilton and Wolff changed the German outfit’s stature in F1 forever.
Not only did the Brackley team become a new powerhouse, but it also dominated the sport for eight years in a row. Clearly, Toto Wolff had not seen much of a failure until the 2022 season hit Mercedes real hard. But the 2023 season really raised a lot of questions on why Mercedes remained winless. Moreover, fans and experts wondered why the German outfit repeated their zero sidepod concept after the 2022 season was a disaster.
Lately, Kravitz Questioned The Leadership Of Toto Wolff In The 2023 Season
Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports calls Toto Wolff the best leader on the F1 grid. However, the reporter believes Wolff didn’t handle the situation last year very well. It was not one of the Mercedes boss’s best judgment calls. Most importantly, Kravitz mentioned he still can’t understand why Mercedes and Toto Wolff went along with the old concept. Why didn’t Toto Wolff decide to throw away the concept? Previously, Wolff had said that the win in the Brazilian Grand Prix was a major factor in their decision to continue with the zero sidepod concept.
But when they realized the blunder last season, it was too late to change the whole setup. Lewis Hamilton had described the W14 car as the sister of the bad (W13) car. Moreover, Ted Kravitz said Toto Wolff should have said that it is better to go with the Red Bull concept and lets throw away the old horrible concept. The Sky Sports reporter feels Toto reacted too late about throwing away the concept. It made Kravitz feel that the Mercedes boss was just not the old assured and calm person that they have seen all these years.
Lewis Hamilton’s Winless Streak Is A Major Concern For The Fans And The Team Boss
Since 2022, Red Bull got back the throne that was once theirs. After 2013, the Milton Keynes team won the constructor’s title again in 2022. But Mercedes has fallen far behind because of their poor car. They have won a single race in the last two years. Moreover, they have been winless in 2023. The last victory that the Mercedes F1 team saw came in the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
But another big concern for the Mercedes fans has been the winless streak of Lewis Hamilton. The last time he won a Grand Prix was in 2021 at the Saudi Arabian GP. It has been a too long wait for the seven-time champion. Moreover, Toto Wolff showed his disappointment several times as Mercedes could not provide Hamilton with a championship-winning caliber car.