Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff says past success doesn’t buy the team “any credit” for 2021 and beyond.
The new regulations coming into effect in 2021 promise a reshuffling of the deck in Formula 1. Toto Wolff says Mercedes can’t rest on their laurels after their record breaking 2019 season.
“2021 is going to be a completely new challenge because the regs are being put upside down,” said the Austrian.
“What [exists] today in terms of aero will not exist anymore in 2021. And I believe it’s an opportunity as a team to do a decent job and prove that we can go through a regulatory change and come out on top like we’ve done in the past.
“But certainly there is no sense of entitlement. Last year’s records don’t buy us any credit for future seasons to come.
“It’s something that is very exciting for us and I personally really look forward to have 2021 coming.
With all the successes in the past six years, Mercedes also had its share of failures and Wolff notes the team’s strength is in how they react to “difficult weekends”.
“You can very much feel the difference in the mood in the factory after bad weekend, or good weekend,” continued Wolff.
“But the surprising fact is that I feel such a strong buzz in the factories after the difficult weekends.
“It’s the days where we failed that we feel that we need to push even more and work smart and intelligently and I enjoy that coming back on Monday and leave no stone unturned, uncover our shortfalls, and then eventually rise again.”