Toto Wolff finds surprising inspiration for Mercedes in Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola

Toto Wolff, the team principal at Mercedes, met Pep Guardiola, Manchester City's manager, for the first time in Abu Dhabi. The two took part in a QnA session hosted by Puma, where Wolff paid attention to the football manager's views and approach to the sport.

Later on, the Mercedes team boss praised Pep Guardiola on the Beyond the Grid podcast. Toto Wolff spoke about how he met Guardiola for the first time and instantly realized how similar some of their ideas and philosophies were.

The Austrian would go on to highlight similarities between him and Guardiola by explaining how both were managing massive teams and several personalities. Toto Wolff said:

“The two of us, we didn’t know each other but when I heard him talking, it was like my sentences, the same approach – and he said the same about me. Fundamentally, it’s down to human management, and he is someone that is certainly going to be part of my journey going forward."

"Because he was just on the same wavelength, and even the family was on the same wavelength between Susie and me."

Toto Wolff was extremely impressed by Pep Guardiola and his mentality and wanted to stay in contact with him as his career progressed. Since both are managerial geniuses with similar views, they were also seen in deep conversation with each other after the 2022 F1 Abu Dhabi GP.

While Toto Wolff has won several constructor world titles with Mercedes, Pep Guardiola has won several league and Champions League titles with teams like Barcelona and Manchester City.

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George Russell reveals the amount of tension in Mercedes during 2022 F1 season

Although Mercedes are one of the most successful teams in F1, they faced one of their worst seasons in 2022. While Red Bull and Ferrari fought for the championship and race wins, Mercedes struggled quite a lot to squeeze the performance out of their cars.

During his interview on the High Performance podcast, George Russell opened up about several tense situations during the season. Russell said:

“I think, for sure, the dynamic would have been slightly different had we arrived at the first race and had the fastest car on the grid. There has been a huge amount of late nights throughout this season, a lot of tension at times between drivers, teams, and designers with regards to are we on the right track – do we need to be doing something different, more drastic?"

During the latter stages of the season, Mercedes clawed their way to podium finishes and even grabbed a victory with George Russell in Brazil. This shows how hard the Silver Arrows worked throughout the season to improve their team's performance.