"This is what I actually want to do all my life" - Mercedes boss Toto Wolff not considering leaving F1 after tough start to 2022 season

Mercedes have had a rough start to the 2022 F1 season. The eight-time world champions have seen continued success and have dominated the sport for a long time. However, they are now struggling in midfield. But team boss Toto Wolff revealed that he has no intention of quitting the sport due to the issues the team is currently facing.

As reported by Motorsport, the German revealed that this is not the end for him with Mercedes:

“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.”

When asked about his faith in his team and engineers and their ability to make significant improvements to turn things around at Mercedes, Wolff said:

“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.”

Lewis Hamilton, in particular, has struggled with all the changes that have been brought about this year. The Silver Arrows are visibly in no position to fight for the title so far, given the significant difference in their pace compared to that of Red Bull and Ferrari.

---

"Not worthy for a world champion" - Mercedes boss on the weaknesses of the W13

Mercedes are nowhere near the level of performance that they have had in the past few seasons and Toto Wolff claims that it is simply "not good enough" for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Some people believe that this sudden downward trend for the team could see the Briton retiring from the sport soon.

As reported by formula1.com, Wolff addressed Hamilton's disappointing thirteenth-place finish at the Imola GP:

“Yes, I mean, really bad. He got squeezed by the Alpine, the other two cars undercut him, and there is just no overtaking when you are in a DRS train. I think we saw with George where the car can drive if you are in free air, but we are not good enough for a world champion – not worthy for a world champion – we just need to fix the car.”

The Briton failed to score a point at Imola last weekend and described the Mercedes as "undriveable" at the end of the race. Wolff was prompt in taking the blame for the issues with the car despite George Russell's strong fourth-place finish in the very same car in Italy.