A former F1 team principal, Eddie Jordan, recently came out to condemn the not-so-leadership qualities of the Mercedes leader, Toto Wolff. He commented on Wolff’s behavior toward the engineers, who rather need to get protected.
If a Formula One team constructs bad performance, who is to get the blame for it, the drivers? The engineers who made the car? Or the team’s leader/boss who supervises it all? Of course, we look for the manager in a restaurant if a server misbehaves or if the food tastes terrible! The same goes with Formula One too. The responsibility for how a team performs goes on the boss’ shoulder, but when a manager, a boss himself, starts criticizing the workers, where would the spectators go?
The above actually represents the current situation of Mercedes. Today, the team is in the worst condition; since 2022, just one win has come under the Mercedes umbrella. 2023 was supposed to bring rain in the drought. But Mercedes ended up being dry. In the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished fifth and seventh, respectively. Apparently, both the drivers figured out the lack of downforce in the car. And clearly, the W14 is not optimizing at the level of Red Bull or even Aston Martin, which runs with the same Mercedes engine.
Pointing out the reasons why Mercedes could not initiate a strong comeback this season, Toto Wolff said, “We got the concept wrong.” He questioned the team’s strategist, the engineers, and the technical departments for Mercedes’s downfall. And now, to rectify it, some parts of the W14 will change, he assured. But is this what a boss does? Eddie Jordan does not think so!
Eddie Jordan Criticizes Toto Wolff For His Behavior Towards The Engineers
The Former team principal recently spoke with the OLBG. There he figured out that the car the Brackley built last year was giving porpoising issues. But this year, it is an achievement for the team to have eradicated that particular issue. For the seven-time world champion who risked his personal records being loyal to the team, Jordan thinks that he got an impressive teammate in George Russell. Perhaps, this new teammate of Lewis Hamilton, who already beat him last year, is a threat to him in the chase for his eighth championship title.
Toto Wolff Eddie Jordan
However, Eddie Jordan remained critical of Toto Wolff. He said, “the Mercedes boss should face the criticism like a man and a leader.” When Mercedes’s performance was once again mediocre in the 2023 F1 season, in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, not much progress was recorded, and fans started criticizing the team. And Eddie is talking about that criticism. He believes that Toto Wolff is not behaving like a leader at present. Instead of taking credit for the good and poor performance of the team, it is blaming the workers. And this is not something a boss should do. According to Eddie, Wolff needs to accept that “Mercedes [as a whole] has got it wrong.“
At present, the Silver Arrow is on the same page as Ferrari. However, being competitive for the latter cannot lead Lewis Hamilton to his ultimate goal of eight titles. To get that, the team needs to optimize at the level of Red Bull and Aston Martin; the gaps are needed to be bridged.
