"It's just the normal rate of change" - Mercedes does not feel exit of key personnel has caused the team to struggle

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is not willing to buy into the rhetoric that the team's struggles in 2022 are a result of many members leaving for newer pastures.

In 2022, Mercedes have not been anywhere near as dominant as they have been in years past. From consistently fighting for wins, the Silver Arrows are now playing catch-up to the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull in the new era of F1.

There has been a mass exodus from the factories in Brackley and Brixworth, with Red Bull and Ferrari both poaching members from Wolff's side. Wolff, however, merely sees this as 'a normal cycle'. In an interview carried by motorsport.com, the Austrian said:

“It’s just the normal cycle. Ross [Brawn] left, then Paddy [Lowe] left. We won six championships after that, or seven. Then James Allison came in, and there’s a lot of others who aren’t front and centre. Then Andy [Cowell] retired. But meanwhile, all the young guys are coming up, and they’ve been the decision-makers at the operational level time and time again, as far as the cars in the last few years are concerned. We haven’t lost anyone where I think to myself today: ‘That was really, really counterproductive!’ It’s just the normal rate of change.”

The Mercedes boss went on to add, saying:

“When I walk around our campus, the thing that pleases me the most is that most people are very young and highly educated, motivated - and don’t want to leave things the way they are today. That puts me in a positive frame of mind. I couldn’t imagine anyone better in the team than the squad I have around me. And I’m not just saying that lightly: it’s what I really believe.”

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"This is what I actually want to do all my life" - Mercedes boss not ready to leave F1 despite 2022 struggles

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has no plans to leave F1 after the Silver Arrows' early struggles in the 2022 season.

In an interview with motorsport.com, the Austrian was asked if he considered walking away after almost a decade of dominance in the sport. Wolff said:

“The activity in the team, developing the team, is what I really enjoy. Formula 1 is booming. On the revenue side, things are going very well and this is what I actually want to do all my life. In that respect, the question hasn’t arisen until now to say: that’s it. It would be like a project manager or an employee saying: ‘I’ve done this now, I’ll go out with the best record and that’s it.’ But it doesn’t stop with me. It’s going on.”

Wolff went on to elaborate by saying:

“My spontaneous answer would be: you can’t unlearn it. But then the track teaches us something else. It’s also about always staying humble, and that’s what we are, and saying: ‘Shit, we really got it wrong.’ You have to accept that now. Where did we go wrong? In my time, we did eight out of eight strikes and now we’ve really gone wrong. It’s not like we’re just three tenths off. But in terms of our personality development, and the values in our team, as bad as it feels, this is an important development. There is no one who is infallible. We’re seeing that right now. But the team is capable of turning things around.”

Wolff was heard calling the Mercedes W13 undrivable after Lewis Hamilton's disappointing P13 finish at the Imola GP. The team reportedly plans to bring new upgrades to the car at the upcoming 2022 F1 Miami GP.