Wolff: Motivation levels still high despite Mercedes’ success

Toto Wolff says the strong relationships within the Mercedes Formula 1 team and wider Daimler company help him stay motivated even after a string of championship victories.

Mercedes became the first team in F1 history to win six consecutive sets of drivers’ and constructors’ championships in 2019, with drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finishing first and second in the final standings.

Team principal Wolff has overseen all of Mercedes’ recent F1 success, but has been linked with a potential move away from the marque in the future, potentially as long-term replacement for F1 CEO and chairman Chase Carey.

Wolff has long stressed he sees his future lying with Mercedes, and explained how he remains motivated by the strong relationships that have been forged within the team during its period of success.

“I think I observe my own motivation and energy levels pretty closely. We are all tired at a certain stage of the season because the travelling is a lot and the pressure of performance is substantial,” Wolff said.

“But I feel that joy in doing what I do. The most important part is the relationships within the team and within the Daimler organisation that motivate me every single day.

“I think this is one of the crucial parts because if you enjoy working with the people, it keeps your motivation levels high, and this is the case for me.”

Wolff said the need to identify what motivated people and helped their development was key to his management approach at Mercedes.

“I think the most important thing is that you need to wake up in the morning with a sense of purpose. I’ve personally felt that every single year,” Wolff said.

“I enjoy what I do, I enjoy that the stopwatch that never lies, if you’re good enough or not. Motivation is the key for everybody within the team.

“If you run out of objectives, you need to change your role. This is something we have always given a lot of attention to, spent a lot of time defining our objectives, not only business objectives, also personal objectives.

“We’re trying to find out what incentivises our most important contributors in the team, and it is not always cash or power. It’s much more than that. This is one of our key topics in general.

“I’m quite certain that we will define new, exciting targets that will give us a reason to push through the hard days for next year.”

Additional reporting by Julianne Cerasoli.