Team Principal and CEO of the Mercedes AMG-Petronas F1 Team, Torger “Toto” Wolff, has described the increased competitiveness of Formula One teams, including his own, as being “great” for the sport, at least from a fan’s perspective.
While speaking with the media following the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, the Mercedes boss stated that it was “great news” for both fans and for the sport itself to have four teams competing for race wins, a stark contrast to the 2023 season which was dominated by Oracle Red Bull Racing and especially by its driver, Max Verstappen.
Wolff highlighted the performance of rival team, Scuderia Ferrari, as an example of how strategy and technological improvements played a role in adding to the season’s excitement, noting how good upgrades and especially, “clever” strategy had allowed the team to return to the podium in Zandvoort and then win the Italian Grand Prix despite a spate of poor performances after the Monaco Grand Prix.
“It’s great for Formula One. I mean, it’s the real rock and roll because even if you look at Ferrari, they had some really off weekends and then became alive in Zandvoort in the race, and today with a clever strategy, and they won in Monza.”
“And in the same way, I think these oscillations that we see between these top four teams, I think it’s great news for the fans and great news for the sport.”
“There’s literally, you know, there’s seven or eight cars that are capable to race for [the] podium and that’s great.”
Wolff was asked whether he was surprised by the rival Red Bull’s recent drop in performance, with the Milton Keynes-based team failing to make the podium for the third time in the last four races, despite their dominant performances in the season’s early races.
“Yeah, that’s really weird,” Wolff said, adding that while he had no insight into Red Bull matters, the team no longer seemed to be that which they were at the beginning of the season.
“I mean, I have no insight, obviously, but that is not at all the Red Bull of the start of the year [which was] dominant.”
Wolff stated that, from his perspective, and without knowing the inner workings of Red Bull, it appeared that the Milton Keynes-based team’s strong performances in the earliest races of the season may have been due to Max Verstappen’s strong abilities behind the wheel.
However, he acknowledged that their recent performances, especially that at Monza, which he described as being one of Red Bull’s worst in recent years, could simply be a “blip.”
“It’s, you know, I think that Max was able to keep it going for a while with his ability, but it seems now that, you know, that there is, that from the sheer results and that’s what I see without understanding, you know, without knowing what’s going on inside because it could be a blip also.”
“Yeah, that was probably one of the, you know, worst races that we’ve seen for many years to have no pace.”
Despite their struggles in the recent races, however, Wolff refused to write off Red Bull as a strong challenger for the 2024 championship titles, highlighting his team’s struggles in recent years and those of Ferrari.
However, while he expressed optimism that Red Bull would improve their performances over the remainder of the season, he declared that McLaren had become the favourites for the Constructors’ Championships.
This, he stated, was due to them having two drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, consistently and reliably scoring points at the race, unlike Red Bull which more heavily relied on Verstappen for points due to inconsistent performances by his teammate Sergio Pérez.
This increased challenge for the Constructor’s Championship, Wolff added, was not something that current titleholders, Red Bull would have expected at the beginning of the year.
“But, you know, who am I to say that? We’ve been two years where nothing functioned and the same with Ferrari a few races ago, so I don’t think you can write them off.
“They are a formidable team and I’m sure there will be better races, but, I mean, McLaren is clearly the favourite now for [the] Constructor’s Championship. They have two drivers scoring. I bet they didn’t, Red Bull didn’t expect that at the beginning of the year.”
