2021 SEASON WILL BE AN INTENSE CHALLENGE – WOLFF

Toto Wolff now has an equal one-third stake in the Mercedes F1 team along with Daimler and sponsor INEOS.

It was announced just before Christmas that the Austrian would be staying on as team principal, ending speculation that he might move on to pastures new.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal and co-owner, sees the challenge ahead as being “formidable” as they try to remain on their perch at the very top of Formula 1.

FIA has applied chassis freeze and introduced budget caps ahead of the 2021 season, while also restricting on downforce, hence there is a little stretch to innovate for the teams in the following season.

Therefore, Mercedes, who have been dominating the competition since last seven years now feels threatened amidst the several restrictions imposed, as confessed by Toto Wolff.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says the team is facing an organisational challenge in 2021, due to the cost cap and ahead of the big 2022 regulation changes.

“For us, it will be an interesting year, because we need to structure ourselves in a different way than we have done before, due to the cost cap,” Wolff told Autosport.

“We are facing this formidable challenge of slightly tweaked 2021 regulations and a big earthquake of regulatory change for 2022.”

“There’s factors that are working against us that motivate us a lot, factors that are working for us, because we believe we have a good organisation.

“But overall, we embrace change and we’ve always done so in the past. So the organisation is very much looking forward into 2022.”

Although it has been confirmed that Wolff will continue on as Mercedes team principal for three more years, the Austrian is thinking about the team’s future beyond that.

“I enjoy the connections that I have within the team, and as long as I think that I can contribute, this is my role. But equally, I have to make sure that I’m not creating a bottleneck in the leadership of the team.

“And that is my responsibility for our employees, for Mercedes and for the shareholders of Mercedes GP: to look at the time where I can hand over the baton to someone that is better than me.”

Wolff also explained why it took so long for him to sign a contract extension.

“My relationship with Ola [Kallenius, Daimler Chairman of the Board of Management], Daimler and the board and the various people that work for Daimler is as good as it can be.

“And we have a company that we jointly own. Looking into the future is not always as simple as just extending an employment contract, because it is about talking about the relationship among shareholders in the future.

“And that is something that takes time. In every other corporate structure or business, it doesn’t go from one day to the other that you simply find a solution to every question around governance and future shareholding.

“So, it is the normal way of things,” concluded the Austrian.

2021 SEASON WILL BE AN INTENSE CHALLENGE – WOLFF 2021 SEASON WILL BE AN INTENSE CHALLENGE – WOLFF

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