"He is the best" - Mercedes boss Toto Wolff backed by former F1 world champion

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has been backed by former F1 champion Nico Rosberg to bring the team back to glory.

The German team have been on a downward spiral since Lewis Hamilton lost the title in the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. The 2022 season saw Mercedes completely make a mess of the new regulations by introducing a concept that held no resemblance to any car on the grid.

The team recovered and won a race last season, but the 2023 one has seen Mercedes fall back even more. The car is just not up to the mark, and there's pressure on the team to deliver and get back to the front.

Former Mercedes driver and F1 champion Nico Rosberg has, however, backed his former boss to be the man to bring the team back to glory. Rosberg said that although the situation looks grave at the moment, Wolff is the right man to bring the team back to the front:

“It’s incredibly difficult, it’s an incredibly difficult situation for everyone. Because they’re so used to success and they’ve written the greatest success story ever written in sport, with eight World Championship titles in a row. And yes, Toto is ultimately the one who is responsible and still is. For me, he is the best team manager and team boss here in Formula 1."

He added:

“The competence is simple; I’ve experienced that myself and this success in recent years is proof of that. But every success comes to an end at some point, that’s always been the case, and now it’s just an incredibly difficult challenge to make this turnaround again.”

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Wolff shares timeline for Mercedes resurgence

Toto Wolff laid down the timeline for Mercedes to close the gap to the front. Talking to Motorsport.com, he said that a timeline of around 6-12 months is needed:

“I think the length (of time) is probably between six and 12 months, because that’s the time that it really took for us (last year) to figure out what was actually happening with the car. That means we just need to have double the development speed, so a stronger development slope. The logic and rational speaks that for Red Bull; their gains are going to be incrementally smaller if the concept is mature."

He added,:

“I think aero wise, and with wind tunnel time, that can help a bit but not hugely. It’s just, we’ve just got to get our act together, and, if we fundamentally understand where we need to put the car, then the steps are going to be large. But we need to be perfect.”

The German team is going through turmoil at the moment, so it will be very interesting to see how they can turn their season around.