Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher believes Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has seemed a bit 'bored' and 'perplexed' in recent interviews and is leading a 'headless' team. The team has been going through a downfall of sorts as it has not been able to adapt to the new regulations.
They will be fighting with Ferrari for P2 in the constructors' championship in the last race of the season. They currently hold a slender four-point lead over the third-placed Modena-based team.
Moreover, in recent months, Toto Wolff's behavior in the media has come under the scanner. He flipped out at the media during a press conference in Las Vegas when he was questioned about the manhole cover-induced FP1 cancellation.
Wolff had a more belligerent stance in general in front of the media when talking about the Mercedes challenger this season. Wolff also had a lot to say about Red Bull boss Christian Horner when the former weighed in on the controversy involving Lewis Hamilton and the boss of the rival unit.
Talking about Mercedes and its prospects, Ralf Schumacher felt that the team appeared to be a bit 'headless' at the moment. As quoted by Motorsport.com, he said:
“To be honest, Mercedes is a little surprise bag. For me, we always have a bored or perplexed Toto Wolff in our interviews, who has sometimes made a distant impression lately. You get the feeling that the team isn’t falling apart at the moment, but that it’s a little headless.”
Mercedes have a lot of work to do, says Ralf Schumacher
Talking about the Mercedes drivers, Ralf Schumacher was quite critical of George Russell, who has made several errors this season and hasn't been at his best. He trails teammate Lewis Hamilton in the championship standings by a hefty 72-point margin. Talking about the two drivers, Ralf said:
“The two drivers don’t seem to be indifferent to each other either. You can tell George’s nerves have become thin for his standards, [he] makes a lot of mistakes and is very aggressive when driving. Mercedes still has a lot of work to do,”
Hamilton sits in P3 with 232 points to his name, trailing second-placed Sergio Perez by 41 points. Russell, meanwhile, sits all the way down in eighth with 160 points, trailing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 28 points.
The team, meanwhile, is in a battle for P2 with Ferrari. The gap between the two teams is only four points and it is going to come down to how the four drivers fare in the last race to determine which team takes the honors.
Leclerc will start in P2 behind Max Verstappen, while Carlos Sainz will begin the race in row eight. Russell, meanwhile, will start in P4 — seven places ahead of Hamilton.