F1 News

Ralf Schumacher sees Toto Wolff in difficult situation at Mercedes

Ralf Schumacher gives his opinion on Wolff: 'It's a mess at Mercedes'

12 April at 11:30

Mercedes haven't achieved the desired results since the 2022 regulations were introduced. Toto Wolff's team has recorded just one victory since then and is not a regular podium visitor. Moreover, the team sees star driver Lewis Hamilton leaving for Ferrari next year. According to Ralf Schumacher, Wolff is, therefore, in a "precarious situation."

Wolff in 'precarious situation' at Mercedes

Recently, Wolff declared Verstappen the 2024 world champion (more or less), although Red Bull Racing members such as Christian Horner and Helmut Marko wanted to know nothing about it. The Mercedes team boss has no intention of throwing in the towel at this stage, but according to Ralf Schumacher, he is currently going through his most difficult time yet at the German formation.

"I would say that Toto Wolff's situation is extremely precarious and difficult. Toto is not used to losing. That makes sense, he has always been successful and left everyone behind. This is a new situation. His customer teams, especially McLaren, are beating him. That's the worst thing that can happen," the former F1 driver explained to the German branch of Sky Sports.

He continued: "His number one driver has walked away from him because he no longer believes in the team either. That means it is now also a huge problem for him. He has to attack now, he has to make sure he remains attractive as a team, that the good drivers come to him."

Schumacher: 'It's a mess at Mercedes'

"Mercedes is in a mess at the moment. You can also see that from Toto Wolff's reactions with the media. I appreciate him, I like him, but it is disastrous what they are doing now. Some of them don't even know what they are doing: they say 'we took it easy on the tyres', but then again they took it easy on the tyres for far too long. They have two cars and I don't understand why they can't use two different strategies. At the moment it's a bit of a mess and they come across as almost desperate," Schumacher said.