Mercedes boss confesses he could face Christian Horner's fate if he doesn't perform

Mercedes' supremo Toto Wolff has admitted that if he doesn't perform well, then he might have to step away from the helm of the team in a similar vein to Christian Horner's departure from Red Bull. The 53-year-old has led the Brackley-based squad since 2013, with the turbo-hybrid era (2014-21) being marked by the German giant's dominance under his leadership.

Since joining the squad in 2013, under Wolff's command, Mercedes won its first championship after the team's return to the world of F1. Moreover, between 2014-20, the drivers' titles were only won by the team's drivers (Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg), while there was a clean sweep on the constructors' side of things in the turbo-hybrid era.

However, 2022 brought the introduction of the ground effect era of regulations, where it has only been able to salvage a timid six race wins in comparison to its vast trophy cabinet in the preceding years.

On the other hand, Red Bull was a dominant force in F1 before Mercedes' impressive run began in 2014. But, the Austrian giant continued its momentum from 2021 and secured four drivers' and two constructors' titles between 2021-24.

With the resurgence of McLaren at the top of the table, the Christian Horner-led team soon found a mass exodus taking place and intra-team conflicts sparking up. This eventually led to his ousting, as the team fell to fourth in the constructors' standings within a span of a few years.

With current results mattering so much in the world of F1, Toto Wolff admitted that he could face a similar fate to Horner if the German giant does not produce satisfying results, as he told Channel 4 Sport:

"Well, you know, if I'm not performing well, I need to find a replacement for myself and then become chairman and criticize the team from the sun lounger."

Meanwhile, Mercedes is one of the three teams to have won a Grand Prix this year.

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Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes having to bin its upgrade package at the Hungarian GP

Toto Wolff at the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium race weekend - Source: Getty

Mercedes won four races last year en route to finishing fourth in the constructors' standings. While the team has only won one race so far, the squad is battling Ferrari for the second spot in the manufacturers' standings.

To aid its drivers in battling the prancing horses, the team had introduced a suspension upgrade in May. But, since then, the team's results started to suffer, leading Wolff & Co. to realise that they would have to ditch the newer parts to return the car to its previous specification.

Sharing his thoughts on the issue, the Austrian said (via F1):

"I think that we tried to solve a problem with an Imola upgrade, with a mechanical upgrade. That may have not solved an issue but it made something, let something else creep into the car and that was an instability that basically took all confidence from the drivers and it took us a few races to figure that out."

"How do you bring correlation from what the digital world tells you into the real world and that has been a feature, and this is the last example of how it tripped us all up."

On the other hand, the Hungarian GP marked a sixth podium result for the team's star driver, George Russell, while Kimi Antonelli's run of point-scoring hiatus also came to an end.