Wolff saw bright spot in Russell: 'He had every reason to be angry'

Toto Wolff enjoyed a glorious period as team boss at Mercedes, but the past two years have been challenging. The team have only won once: with George Russell in the 2022 Grand Prix of Brazil. Wolff admits that that turnaround was tough.

Wolff says he knew the day would come when Mercedes would struggle. However, he perhaps didn't expect such a collapse like this. Mercedes envisaged a scenario where Russell and Lewis Hamilton would still win races but where the team would fall short of becoming champions.

In reality, however, things were much worse when the new F1 regulations took effect in 2022: podium finishes were occasionally possible, but the team was no longer competing for victories. "Then you have false dawns and managing your expectations. It's very tricky to keep the positiveness in our daily interpersonal dynamic," Wolff admitted in front of Motorsport.com.

"It was not always straightforward, but I think this is where the strength of the team is," the 52-year-old Austrian added. According to Wolff, the team is strong in the sense that everyone can "live with each other's strengths and weaknesses". "When it was difficult in the debriefing room because the results were not as expected, it was then George that should have all reasons to be upset, but he was about positiveness."