© Richard Pardon for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff attended the Miami Grand Prix Friday Press Conference. Here is the full transcript.
Q: Toto, why don’t we start with you? George Russell said yesterday that three podiums from five races is more than the team was expecting. Do you agree?
Toto WOLFF: Yeah, probably. Because when you… you know, we had a little bit of swings of performance and then maybe one or the other race the Ferraris came back at us and he was great in defending. So it is pretty close, but still, it’s not really satisfying because you have McLaren out there that are able to manage their tyres so well. And then it’s the three teams that are fighting with each other – one race you get it right, the other one not. And yeah, certainly trying to figure out what it is and playing catch up.
Q: How much potential does the W16 have? Can you join this championship fight?
TW: The car is much easier to set up. At least you put more flap in and the car does what you expect it to do, which in previous years wasn’t the case. And it’s more predictable, but the underlying issue obviously is keeping the tyre temperatures in the window, and that’s something we just haven’t found a way of doing really well.
Q: Have you seen enough from this car to develop it quite deep into the season, or are you switching to 2026 already?
TW: I think every team will have their little secrets. And it’s also a bit of a moving target. All of us have transitioned certain groups within the aero department or larger groups in the design office that are only looking at next year’s car, obviously. And the performance slope is very steep. You’re adding lots of downforce in because it’s the early days, and that’s going to flatten. But if a team has started doing it one and a half months earlier in terms of transitioning resource, that can be a big advantage next year.
Q: The most successful driver in the history of Formula 1 left you last winter. Can we talk about the team dynamic now – how George and Kimi are filling the void of Lewis?
TW: First of all, I want to avoid some headlines. We’re still great friends with Lewis. I spent a lot of time with him, traveling, and I’m still seeing him. It came to a point last year where, you know, it’s like spending 12 years in a row on holiday with your best friend. At a certain stage you say, well, maybe do something else this time around. And for Lewis, he needed a refresher, a reinvention. Ferrari is iconic, no doubt about that. Certainly he also got terms that were interesting for him. And with us, Kimi was in the starting blocks – eventually it was this year or it would have been next year to bring him in. Bringing him in this year means we have a learning year before new regulations kick in. He’s going to know all the tracks, which for example, this one he’s never been to, and that felt like the right decision.
Q: Is the atmosphere very different inside the garage this year?
TW: No, I wouldn’t say so. Lewis was part of the family. As a racing driver, he knew exactly what he wanted and the engineers and mechanics knew him. He knew them. We got along. You have good days, bad days, strengths and weaknesses. But when you know someone that well, it’s easy to manage that. Now the dynamic is different. George has massively stepped up as a senior driver in the team. Kimi is almost like the young brother that’s come in. They work well together, which is very pleasing to see. Kimi doesn’t stress too much, he’s just building up constantly. And on George, you can rely on him when it comes to lap times and racing. So spirits are high.
Q: Final one for me. You say George has massively stepped up – in what areas?
TW: I think it becomes so obvious, when a seven-time World Champion leaves the team which he was with for 12 years, George, who like everyone has always been a little bit in the shadow of Lewis, is now the one giving direction. He’s the one you can rely on when it’s “George, where’s the pace of the car?” And that is important. That is what we do.
Q: If he continues on that trajectory, will you re-sign him?
TW: I knew that question was going to come? George is part of the Mercedes family and has always been. As I see things today, why break a team that is on a trajectory I see as positive?
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QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Graham Harris (Motorsport Monday) A question for Toto, but I’d love Christian and Ollie to comment as well. We spoke to Lewis and George yesterday about the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association not being officially recognised by the FIA or having any direct links to the FIA and asking whether that would be productive going forward. As they have no standing, do you as a Team Principal and as a member of thew World Motor Sport Council, as each Team Principal is, is there a route to having the GPDA officially recognised so they can contribute meaningfully? What are your views on this?
TW: Over the years that I’ve been in Formula 1, you’ve had times of a more vocal GPDA and then at times not. And I think now, there’s a few good voices speaking for the drivers that are measured and manage to come up with the right inputs. They are just another stakeholder in the sport and, as such, even if not formally, they’re very well recognised informally. Listening to their opinions is important. We – at least the teams – are very much attentive to them.
Q: (Nicole Mulder – GP Blog) Question to Christian and Toto: what’s the best advice you can give Max now as a new parent?
TW: Yeah, obviously we are all different. For me, a child is born with DNA and I believe in nature, not so much nurture. But he’s been – from what I can see – great with his stepdaughter, and I have no doubt he will be a fantastic father.
Q: (Molly Hudson – The Times) A question for Christian but open to anyone: the topic of the 2026 engines came up again in the recent Commission meeting. Are you happy with the resolution? Do you feel lift-and-coast concerns are gone, or is there still more work to be done?
TW: Obviously, the closer you come to new regulations, the more people act – all of us – in the interest of the team, that’s their duty. Where we’re coming from is we don’t know how it’s going to pan out next year. Are we going to see energy harvesting disasters in Baku or Monza? I don’t know. We hope not. What we’ve signalled is that, rather than act now based on assumptions – like we’ve been great at in previous years and then overshot or undershot – as Christian said, you don’t need to throw the hardware away and come up with something new – it’s within the software and bandwidth of what you can do. We’ll see the final product next year in testing. As a power unit manufacturer, we want this to be a great show. We want to win, but we are also aware that in the sport there needs to be variability and unpredictability. We enjoyed the years from 2014 onwards, but over a prolonged period of time, that’s certainly not the best for the sport. I try to be very balanced between what is good for Mercedes, which I need to do, and what is the right solution going forward. We need to avoid these swings. The FIA proposed this engine; nobody liked it. The 50% electric back in the day was where road cars were going to and it was a reason to attract manufacturers like Audi and Porsche. So, we did that. It’s difficult to change the goalposts, especially for the new ones. Honda recommitted, and Audi committed, and including us, they are not keen on changing those goalposts at this stage. But we need to be open-minded if necessary.
Q: (Jon Noble – The Race) To Toto and Christian: another issue from the F1 Commission was the cost of fuel for next year as sustainable fuels come in. What’s your opinion on that? Is it something that needs addressing for 2027?
TW: From my point of view, what makes it so expensive is that the whole supply chain and energy contribution needs to be green. To achieve all of that, you need a certain specification of ingredients that is very expensive – and it’s coming in much more expensive than anyone thought. So we need to look at whether there’s anything we can tweak to bring the per-litre price down. We want to be open-minded. Petronas has been a great partner of ours. They’re fully committed technically to the project, and with them we’re evaluating is there a regulation that can be changed to make it more financially sustainable.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) A question for Toto. Going back to Lewis – his start at Ferrari probably hasn’t been what he wanted. He described it as painful. Have you been surprised by that, and do you think he still has the magic? Or has it deserted him?
TW: I think we saw that magic in the Sprint Race – was it Shanghai? He was completely dominating that race. It’s not like you have the magic in one race and then suddenly you lose the magic in the next one. I very much believe that it’s still there. If he aligns all his performance contributors and feels he is in the right space and the car is to his liking, he will be stellar. I have no doubt. But I’m also not surprised it has those road bumps. He was with us 12 years – the way of operating. He’s been put in a Ferrari, where his teammate has been a long time. And his team-mate clearly is one of the very good ones. So from the outside and speaking to him, it’s a trajectory any new driver needs to go through in a top team.
Q: (Ana Ofelia Cordera – Momentum Racing) To Toto. Mercedes dominated for almost 10 years and is still near the top. What has been the most essential ingredient to accomplishing that?
TW: Hola. Are we on the top? You’re always setting your own expectations. We’re trying to do this without having any sense of entitlement. We set the level for many years, and then Christian and Red Bull came back and dominated in the early years of these regulations. We were on the back foot. Slowly, we’re regaining land. We won four races last year – some were dominant. Las Vegas was clearly our race. We’re part of a group that is competitive, that has cars that are able to win and drivers that are able to win. Most of all, you talk about the team or the company – what is that actually, the kind of structure, and it’s people. People coming together and people trying to do the best job. I believe that this is somewhere where we score. We have a good environment. We have a pressure environment, but pressure channelled in the right way. I love my tribe. I try to contribute, to be helpful and if I don’t [help], understand why I wasn’t. Everyone in a leadership position has that introspection: what can I contribute? What can I do better to outperform our competitors?
Q: (Ronald Vording – Motorsport.com) For Christian and Toto – and Ollie, if you want to add. Also on 2026, regarding minimum weight – some teams have said it’ll be incredibly hard to even get close to the minimum weight next year. Is the minimum weight too ambitious, to give fans the perception of lighter cars, and do you feel together with the PU it will be the main performance differentiator next year?
Christian HORNER: Naturally, Toto and I are at opposing ends on this.
TW: Have been for a few years.
CH: Yeah, I’m loving the new look. I’m loving the new look.
Oliver OAKES: That’s why I’m Switzerland in this.
CH: Exactly. A number was plucked out of the air for car weight. We’ve got engines that are significantly heavier and a car weight that has become lower. So it will be an enormous challenge for every team to achieve it. Saving weight costs a colossal amount of money. There was a discussion last week about introducing steel skids – maybe that would warrant adding 5 kilos to the minimum weight. But it is what it is. It’s the same for everybody. There will be choices teams make to hit the weight, because weight is free lap time. Every 10 kilos is about 0.35 seconds. It will be very challenging for all teams to get down to minimum weight.
TW: Like Christian said, you make choices as a team. How much lap time do you attribute to weight and ballast? Where do you want to save? You may compromise other performance parts if you want to reduce your weight, or the opposite. It is challenging. The reason we’re doing it is to make the cars more nimble. Is that something that was important? I think it was. We’ve got to start somewhere. That initial step is difficult, but it’s the same for everyone.
OO: I’m in the middle. I’m neutral. I’m happy.
Q: (Ticiano Figueiredo – Diário do Rio Claro) To Christian and to Toto. Now that Max’s daughter has been born, is there any chance we’ll have a second Monegasque driving in Formula 1 in the next few years – and why not a woman?
TW: I see it from two sides. I have an eight-year-old that’s go-karting, and I think Max knows you don’t want to put yourself emotionally through that rollercoaster – at least that’s what he said. But then, we need more girls and women in Formula 1. I’m obviously very biased, seeing Susie and F1 Academy prosper and doing the right things. And that girl – like Christian says – if she were to call herself Piquet-Verstappen, that’s also great for marketing… or the other way around.
Source: FIA.com
