Wolff is incredibly enthusiastic about this key ingredient to F1 domination

17:06, 10 May

byNorberto Mujica

Mercedes CEO and team principal, Toto Wolff believes that the underlying factor to achieving dominance in F1 is the people in the team, whom he refers to as his tribe, which he admittedly loves.

When asked what was the essential factor to reaching the top in F1, Wolff then wondered during the team representatives FIA press conference: "Are we on the top?"

Carlos Sainz (Williams) and George Russell (Mercedes) fighting for position at the Miami Grand Prix

'No sense of entitlement,' highlights Wolff about Mercedes' approach to success'

"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."

Wolff sees how after struggling, Mercedes have been slowly chipping away at the advantage other teams had in tightly-knitted top group.

"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."

George Russell in his Mercedes W16 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Wolff 'loves his tribe', who push him in bid to 'outperform his rivals'

But ultimately what separates a successful organization from a non-successful one? Wolff knows perfectly well.

"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?"