Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes F1 Toto Wolff admitted that the close and intense battles with Scuderia Ferrari in the 2018 and 2019 Formula 1 seasons very nearly caused Mercedes to reach their breaking point.
The German team are locked in a title fight with Red Bull this year, and it is the first time another competitor has truly challenged them since the Maranello team did so a few years ago. In 2017 and 2018, the Italian side was leading the championship courtesy of Sebastian Vettel for long periods – and in 2019, while they were not as strong on race days, they claimed nine pole positions.
Toto Wolff says fighting off Scuderia Ferrari in those latter two seasons in particular pushed his own team to the very edge: “The season is very intense,” he said in a video shared on the Mercedes Twitter account – “But also 2018 and particularly 2019 when we were fighting Ferrari, it was very difficult at times. We were really pushing the boundaries. And that also means pushing each other almost to breaking point in order to win the championship.” – he explained.
The 2021 Formula 1 season has arguably been an even bigger challenge for Toto Wolff and his team in this first half of the year, with Red Bull and Max Verstappen both taking early leads in the standings, before a series of unpredictable events and crashes helped Mercedes regain the top spot ahead of the summer break.
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