Toto Wolff backtracks on his plan to miss the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka amid Mercedes’ struggling form

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has cancelled his plan to miss the 2024 F1 Japanese Grand Prix given the Silver Arrows' struggles on the grid this season.

The Austrian team principal had been planning to miss the race at Suzuka like he did last year. However, Mercedes has been performing rather terribly, having their worst start to a season in the past decade.

After both cars failed to finish the Australian GP (Lewis Hamilton retired on lap 17 due to an engine failure and George Russell crashed on the final lap), the team is now very close to dropping to fifth place in the constructors' standings.

Wolff will be hoping that his presence will help the team get back on track in Japan after an underwhelming start to the season.

Red Bull have dominated at Suzuka in recent seasons. Max Verstappen won his second world championship there in 2022 and Red Bull sealed their sixth constructors' championship at the venue in 2023.

Given their ongoing struggles with the W15, it is hard to say if Mercedes will be able to climb up in the championship to fight amongst the top three. Ferrari are battling with Red Bull at the top while there is a 29-point gap between McLaren and the Silver Arrows.

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Mercedes technical director provides update on Lewis Hamilton's engine failure in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton's engine failure during the Australian Grand Prix was a massive blow for the team. Although he was running in P11 at the time, he was expected to secure a point-scoring finish. As Mercedes technical director James Allison pointed out, the team only knows that there was a "rapid loss of oil pressure." He said (via Formula1.com):

"All we know is the symptoms at the time, which was a rapid loss of oil pressure followed by a shutdown of the engine to protect it."

Despite the failure, Allison is confident about the drivers and the cars' reliability and feels that it is their strong point.

"DNFs are thankfully a rare thing for us,” he commented. “We have drivers who are particularly good at keeping it on the island and our reliability overall is a strong point."

Heading into Japan, Mercedes is under threat from Aston Martin at fifth position in the standings. Only one point separates the two teams, and a drop to fifth would be the Brackley-based outfit's lowest standing in the turbo-hybrid F1 era.