Toto Wolff has shared his decision to join Mercedes at the Japanese Grand Prix, highlighting his support for the team amid a challenging start to the 2024 Formula 1 season.
The team has struggled to find its footing since the introduction of the ground effect regulations in 2022, securing only a single victory. With the debut of the revamped W15 vehicle, there were aspirations within Mercedes to reclaim their competitive edge in 2024.
However, despite James Allison, the technical director, expressing optimism for a strong performance in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, the team has yet to achieve a podium position in the first three races of the season.
Originally, Wolff had not intended to be present at Suzuka for the upcoming race. However, a decision was made on Tuesday that he would indeed make the trip to Japan. On Friday, Wolff elaborated on his decision, emphasizing his desire to stand with the team during these trying times.
He highlighted the team’s intent to undertake various experimental adjustments to the car at Suzuka.
In a statement to Formula 1, Wolff remarked, “I felt that in the difficult times I wanted to be with the race team, especially with us doing quite some experiments with the car today and tomorrow. This is the better place [to be].”
Delving deeper into his rationale during the team principals’ media briefing, Wolff underscored his commitment to guiding Mercedes to its former glory.
This dedication comes after he played a pivotal role in the team’s historic achievement of securing eight consecutive Constructors’ championships beginning with the onset of Formula 1’s V6 hybrid era in 2014.
He elaborated on his decision, saying, “I had planned not to come to Japan because there’s so much on back in Europe, things to do.”
“But then I felt not coming to Japan was the wrong choice. I think it’s important to be with the race team.
“It does me good also to be close to the action. We are experimenting with a few things and then being part of the team really gives me energy. I hope the other way around too, so that’s why I decided against staying in Europe.
“We’re a sports team. We’ve won eight times in a row and that hasn’t been done before. You have periods where you struggle like any other sports team and you can’t win every time. That’s why this is a super challenge.
“It’s not a race, it’s not one single season and then you come back out on top, but it’s the third one in a row.
“But I remain absolutely convinced that we will be looking back in a few years and saying that was so tough but so important for the development of the team from maybe an organizational standpoint, from re-evaluating our tools and systems, which clearly don’t work as good as they did in previous regulations.”
Wolff’s statements followed remarks from Lewis Hamilton, who confirmed his move to Ferrari in 2025 earlier in February. Hamilton praised his recent experience with the W15 at Suzuka as his most positive yet, having finished in the top five in both practice rounds.
However, Hamilton cautioned Mercedes about overly experimenting with his car for the rest of the weekend. He suggested that excessive modifications could potentially lead to complications, emphasizing the importance of caution in making overnight changes.
He expressed his satisfaction, noting, “It was a great session, it was a really good session for us.
“It was the best session that we’ve had this year, it’s the best the car has felt this year so far. So far, pretty positive.
“I was really excited because this is a circuit that every driver loves to drive. In the last couple of years, we’ve had a really difficult car and a difficult balance to drive here.
“And given the difficult last few races we’ve had, great work has been done this past week and we just seem to have hit the ground a bit more in a sweeter spot. So I haven’t really made any changes since [FP1].
“I think we’ve got a better platform or baseline to start from, so as long as we don’t make too many changes and mess it up… I think probably just stay where we are and hopefully we’ll get a [good weekend].”
