Credits: Imago/ Hoch Zwei
Three-time world champion Niki Lauda gave invaluable input to Mercedes during the team’s preliminary years. The non-executive chairman was the one who convinced Lewis Hamilton to join a struggling midfield outfit. He instilled his winning mentality in the team and brought expertise, which led to success to the team. However, now the Brackley outfit is a shadow of its championship-winning self since the start of the 2022 season. Speaking about this downfall, Niki Lauda’s son Mathias has highlighted how his father would’ve tackled this situation.
As quoted by Oe24, he said, “He would have annoyed his people until they found out why the car wasn’t working. He simply wouldn’t have let up and would have dug down to the last detail.”
As an integral part of the team as an advisor and chairperson, the three-time champion had a lot of say in the team. If he were alive, his son believes the former F1 driver would’ve pressed until a solution was found—a solution that Mercedes is yet to find to their troubles.
To narrow it down, Mathias highlighted how their customer team, McLaren, is doing much better. This proves Mercedes’ problem does not lie in the engine department. It’s the team’s poor interpretation of the ground-effect regulations. The W13 was especially bad in terms of porpoising. However, it’s the third year since the regulations, and the Brackley outfit is still in the dark. This is where Lauda’s persistence and invaluable experience would have been useful, and Toto Wolff proved that.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits Niki Lauda would’ve helped get out of the situation
Soon after his passing, the Mercedes boss admitted the team had lost its guiding light. So after his 2023 struggles, Toto Wolff admitted he misses Lauda. Wolff admitted he could turn to him for advice and guidance in such difficult times.
As quoted by Formula1.com, he said, “Niki’s missed all those years because Niki always simplified things to really what mattered. I’m having to think what would he have said, and how would he have positioned [things], and the two of us worked well together in that sense that sometimes oversimplification can lead you straight to the results.”
The CEO does not have the helpful guiding voice in his ear anymore. Perhaps the struggle is also greater than it was when the Austrian was alive. Looking for solutions, Wolff even made a cheeky offer to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko recently. This happened amidst reports of Marko getting suspended from the Austrian team. “We’re missing our old mascot anyways,” Wolff had said.
