Toto Wolff admits Mercedes are struggling without late F1 legend Niki Lauda

24 March 2023 , 16:21

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Niki Lauda played a key role in signing Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes from rival McLaren (Image: Getty Images)

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has admitted that his team are missing the influence and presence of late F1 icon Niki Lauda.

The three-time world champion took the title for Ferrari in 1975 and 1977 and then again for McLaren in 1984. After retiring from F1, the legend moved into management performing a consultancy role with Ferrari before being made team principal with Jaguar.

In 2012, the Austrian was made non-executive chairman at Mercedes and played a key part in signing Lewis Hamilton from McLaren the following year. Under his stewardship, Mercedes won five constructors titles while Hamilton devoted his sixth world championship crown in 2019 to Launda after his death earlier that year.

Lauda died in 2019 at the age of 70, less than a year after he underwent a double lung transplant.

Mercedes have struggled to match their rivals since launching their W12 model last year which carried a zero-pod concept. Reflecting on the constructor's difficulties, Wolff admitted that they are missing the influence of the F1 great.

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"Niki's missed all those years because Niki always simplified things to really what mattered," he said, as quoted by Stats Perform. "I'm having to think what would he have said, and how would he have positioned [things], and the two of us worked well together in that sense that sometimes oversimplification can lead you straight to the results.

Toto Wolff (left) has admitted that he is missing the influence of Lauda at Mercedes (PA)

Lewis Hamilton devoted his sixth world title to F1 great Lauda (PA)

"But there are lots of nuances. This is a technical sport, so maybe my role was to translate it in a way that we actually were able to execute it in the car design. But this is very simple: the stopwatch never lies, and we see on the data where we are missing and that needs to be corrected."

Lauda was a huge influence on Hamilton's career before he passed away and the British driver paid tribute to the icon after winning the sixth of his seven world titles.

He said: "I miss Niki so much. I know today he will be taking his cap off. I wouldn't have been able to do this without Niki. He's here with us in spirit," he added.

Benjamin Goddard