Toto Wolff feels that Liberty Media, the new owners of Formula 1, could not have asked for a better start to their tenure as the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Scuderia Ferrari battle it out for the championship.
Coupled with Red Bull Racing’s first victory of the season in Azerbaijan last time out, Wolff, the Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, says that the battle between ‘iconic’ brands in motorsport is great for the sport, and that both Mercedes and Ferrari are pushing to make Formula 1 flourish once more.
“There is great respect between Mercedes and Ferrari, two iconic motor racing brands, not only because of the challenging battle on track but because we are pushing for the same goal: to see Formula One flourish,” said Wolff.
“The new owners could hardly have asked for a better start to this new era than this epic battle between Mercedes and Ferrari. Add to the mix a Red Bull team that can win as well and it makes Formula One into a great spectacle.”
Wolff, himself a proud Austrian, says it is a special feeling returning to his homeland and to the Red Bull Ring, and he is hopeful that the positive results for Mercedes in the past three years at the circuit continues into this season.
“It is always special to return to Spielberg and my racing roots,” admitted Wolff. “As a young racing driver, I did my first laps at the old Oesterreichring, so the circuit will always be close to my heart.
“Since those days, Dietrich Mateschitz has invested impressively into the facility and the region and it’s a source of pride for Austria to have this world class circuit in our country.
“Happily, it has been positive ground for Mercedes over the last three years. But we cannot rely on our historic success rate in Spielberg because the regulations are brand new.
“We start again from the ground up on Friday morning and will aim to come out of the blocks well in FP1. In a season as close as this, we have to if we are going to be on the top step at the end of the year.”
