Toto Wolff admits he needs to pinch himself after overseeing six consecutive Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship doubles, although he wants everyone within the Mercedes AMG Motorsport team to share the adoration and share out the credit.
The latest double was confirmed in the recent Mexican Grand Prix when it became a two-horse race for the Drivers’ Championship between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, with the former then going onto clinch the title with second place to his team-mate in the United States Grand Prix a week later.
Hamilton has secured five of the past six Drivers’ titles – the other going the way of Nico Rosberg in 2016 – and Wolff, the Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, says the ‘extremely hard work’ being performed back in the factories in Brixworth and Brackley has paid of spectacularly again and again.
“I remember our first management off-site meeting in 2013 where we put our objectives on the wall -it was the first time we wrote down ‘We want to fight for a championship’,” said Wolff. “But Aldo Costa said that we should be more ambitious and make it plural – championships.
“My first thought was that that’s too far-fetched. But we ended up putting it on the wall. And here we are, almost seven years later, having won six double championships. I still pinch myself sometimes because I can’t quite believe it. And this all down to the extremely hard work of this amazing team in Brixworth and Brackley.
“I feel like a bit of an imposter sometimes because we get to go to the races and take the credit for all the achievements, but it is all of you that make it happen. Thank you very, very much!”
Wolff is proud of the achievements Mercedes have pulled off, with no team in history having completed six consecutive title doubles, and everyone at the team can hold their head up high for the efforts they’ve put in.
“We’ve achieved something that has never been done before and we’ve done it for Mercedes, one of the best-loved brands in the world – it is something that every single one of you can be extremely proud of,” said Wolff.
