“I’d rather lose a championship than cheat”: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff talks about significance of ‘integrity and honesty’

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recently discussed the importance of winning with honesty and integrity in Formula 1.

Wolff believes that a win should not come in any way possible but in the right, and deserving way. On the Desert Island Discs program, he stated that the current scenario in the world observes a 'lack of humility,' which goes against his and the team's values.

"In a day and age where so many terrible things are happening because of lack of integrity or honesty, or just lack of humility – I think this goes totally against our values in the team, and that’s why I’d rather lose a championship than cheat," Wolff said.

Mercedes were the dominant team on the grid in the turbo-hybrid era from 2014. They won all of the world championships till 2020 and Constructors' till 2021. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, and Valtteri Bottas brought glory to the team.

The situation has changed a little bit for the Brackley-based outfit from the 2022 season. They have often found themselves as the second (sometimes third) fastest team.

They have brought in upgrades and the cars have improved a lot, but they still remain shy of competing for the wins. Mercedes registered their most recent win in Brazil 2022 with George Russell, and that was their only victory that entire season.

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Mercedes' chief technical officer reveals reason for porpoising issue

One of the major concerns that Mercedes had in the 2022 season was the porpoising issue that many other teams faced on the grid as well. Following these issues, the FIA mandated new floor regulations for 2023, reducing the violent bouncing.

However, after the Belgian GP, Lewis Hamilton, who finished P4, wasn't the happiest with the car. He mentioned after the race that it had started to bounce like in the earlier season. This could have been a major issue for the team as they would have lost their development track. Team principal Toto Wolff was concerned as well.

However, Mercedes' chief technical officer, Mike Elliot revealed that the issue had nothing to do with the car's aero. It was largely related to the surface of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps instead. Express.co.uk quoted Elliot as saying:

"We definitely had an amount of bouncing this weekend, both drivers were telling us that and we could see it in the data."

"We could also see an amount of bouncing on the other cars and I think some of it is the nature of the circuit at Spa and in fact we had huge amounts of bouncing last year as did most teams."

Mercedes are currently fourth in the driver rankings, with Lewis Hamilton just a point behind third-placed Fernando Alonso.