Mercedes’ Wolff can breathe easy this time
abu dhabi — Considering what transpired here last year, arriving in Abu Dhabi this week would have felt like a breeze and a relief for Toto Wolff.
The Mercedes team principal quite literally had to play headmaster between two warring teammates — Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg — after their championship battle came to a boil.
But with the Constructors’ title wrapped up in Austin, Texas and Hamilton adding the finishing touches to his fourth Drivers’ Championship title in Mexico, Mercedes and Wolff can breathe a bit easy going into the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
And while the focus will be on helping Valtteri Bottas finish second in the Drivers’ Championship, Wolff is proud that they have come away unscathed from a testing season.
“We head to Abu Dhabi for the final race of the season with the same hunger and fire in our stomach that we took to Melbourne over seven months ago,” Wolff said, ahead of the race at the Yas Marina Circuit this weekend.
“During that time, we have pushed ourselves to new limits, bounced back from painful defeats and conquered new and unexpected challenges. Spurred on by strong rivals, we had to dig deeper this year than ever before. And that battle made both titles the most satisfying yet. Our target was to become the first team to win championships across a major regulation change and we are proud to have achieved that,” he added.
And the Austrian was keen on seeing the team finish it on a high. “Regardless of what stands in the trophy cabinets back at base (Brackley), our focus is always on the next race and the next championship. Our goal in Abu Dhabi is quite simple: to give the best of ourselves, to extract the maximum from our “diva” in her final race — and to win,” he said.
“We saw promising pace in both Mexico and Brazil, both circuits where we had expected to struggle more than we did, and this is a positive sign of the progress we have made in understanding our difficulties this year. But we have not been on the top step of the podium since Austin and we are determined to change that in Abu Dhabi,” added the 45-year-old.
The Abu Dhabi circuit holds special memories with the Yas Marina Circuit the setting for two title showdowns.
“Yas Marina is a circuit that holds intense memories for the team, with two title showdowns in the past three seasons. We have claimed three consecutive wins and very much intend to make it four this year. The circuit offers a range of slow to medium speed corners that perhaps are not our car’s most natural habitat, but our recent steps forward give us confidence that we can perform strongly there. Valtteri is on an upward swing of form, with two podiums in the past two races; and Lewis will be aiming to finish this historic season on a high. This is a goal that we all share,” Wolff said.
james@khaleejtimes.com