“Niki always simplified things to what really mattered” – Mercedes boss admits missing Austrian legend's presence within the team

Toto Wolff admitted to feeling Niki Lauda's absence at Mercedes during some of the hardest times the team has faced for almost a year now.

Niki Lauda was an exceptional driver in the history of Formula 1. His racing tactics and knowledge of cars helped plenty of teams during his prime; which indeed continued for a long time. He won the driver's championship thrice during the length of his career, in 1975, and 1977, and after making a return in 1984.

However, his knowledge of motorsports didn't stop after his retirement, he was appointed at Mercedes as their non-executive chairman in 2012 and he played a major role to develop and prepare the team for their turbo-hybrid domination, which lasted till the 2021 season.

Lauda passed away in 2019, at the age of 70. He was a part of motorsports for a long time in his life. Now, as Mercedes have lost the grip of the championship-winning car, Toto Wolff, the Team Principal, talked about how differently the Austrian would handle situations. F1 quoted him:

"Niki’s missed all those years because Niki always simplified things to what really mattered. I’m having to think what would he have said, and how would he have positioned [things], and the two of us worked well together in that sense that sometimes oversimplification can lead you straight to the results."

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Wolff confident in heading towards Mercedes' development program

Mercedes have been facing a tough time since the aerodynamic regulations changed in 2022. The team was hardly competitive for a victory last season, though George Russell scored one in Brazil. While there were better expectations for this season, there doesn't seem to be much improvement; or the rest of the grid have improved better, to say the least.

Toto Wolff talked about a possible change in the design of the W14 car during the length of the season and believes it would make them more competitive. He is confident about the development planned ahead of the season, as he said:

"The goals are that, based on the understanding we have now, over the next iterations of updates and learning, we can shave off a lot of performance deficit, because now we know and now we have all taken a decision in which direction to go."

Though earlier statements from the team, especially Lewis Hamilton, brought in a lot of confidence for the team, they have hardly performed in the first two rounds of the season. Though they managed to get ahead of both Ferraris during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, battling for a victory seems very hard for them to reach with the current package.