Wolff explains ‘centre-console’ home set-up during F1 absence

Wolff skipped the Japanese and Qatar Grand Prix as he recuperated from a knee operation, but the Austrian maintained a presence while working from home. 

Lewis Hamilton said in Qatar that Wolff was “part of every single meeting” and remained fully engaged with the squad despite not being present on-site. 

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Wolff explained how he worked from his remote ‘centre console’ set-up. 

“I was completely plugged in,” he stressed. “I had a pit wall, or centre console set-up at home. So I was part of every briefing or debriefing and the conversations during the race.

“But obviously you've got to let the guys here fly the aeroplane because when you're remote I always take myself back a little bit, because you're distant and you don't look into the faces. 

"You don't see what's what's going on emotionally with the people around you. And you feel in a certain way detached. So it's not something that I enjoyed, but it was a necessity.” 

Mercedes have brought their final major upgrade of the season to Austin in the shape of a modified floor on their W14. 

“The lap time was competitive that Lewis was able to post, but not like the car is suddenly super fast,” Wolff said about Hamilton ending the sole US GP practice third-quickest. 

“George on the other side wasn’t satisfied with how the car was going for him.”