After a disappointing Monaco Grand Prix, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explains the “emotional rollercoaster” you go on when facing failure.
The Monaco Grand Prix couldn’t have gone any worse for Mercedes. Not only did Lewis Hamilton finish in P7, but Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire due to a pit stop wheel nut issue.
In the end Mercedes was left one point behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, while Hamilton lost his lead on the drivers’ side to Max Verstappen.
“It is an interesting sequence of emotions because when you realise that you are facing failure, then anger kicks in,” Toto Wolff explained after the race.
“This is a completely normal phenomenon and you need to stay on top of your emotions and say ‘Okay, it is what it is. What can we do in order to optimise the current situation?’
“If there is not a lot to optimise short term, then how can we avoid these kinds of failures in the future and where we need to optimise.
“Only if you create a safe environment where people can speak up, where you are able to analyse the shortcomings and the gaps, then you will create solutions to avoid making the mistakes in the future.
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“It is an emotional rollercoaster that you go through.”
The Austrian then likened Mercedes’ disappointment to that which Charles Leclerc must have felt. The Monégasque driver qualified on pole in his home race, but ultimately was unable to start the race due to a driveshaft failure.
“Seeing Charles, that was a disaster day for him and it wasn’t any better for us either.
“We lacked the pace all weekend it’s as simple as that and then the pit stop failure that we had is something that we need to understand because we completely machined the wheel nut.
“With Lewis, we just didn’t have the pace in the car,” concluded Wolff.