Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton and boss Toto Wolff both failed to stay true to the team’s famous ‘no-blame culture’ at times during a tough 2023 season. The Silver Arrows were unable to notch a single Grand Prix victory as they watched Red Bull storm to the Constructors’ Championship and Max Verstappen clean up in the individual standings.
The approach of making sure no one person or group of people were held responsible for any failings across a race weekend stood Mercedes in good stead when they picked up eight consecutive team titles between 2014 and 2021.
Wolff claims that the philosophy is still in place, despite the team having plenty to complain about over the past two seasons. Before 2022, Hamilton had never gone a whole F1 season without clinching a Grand Prix win.
Now, the seven-time world champion has gone a staggering two years without standing at the top of the podium. Mercedes’ distinctive zero sidepod design, which they stuck with this year despite struggling the season prior, has been the source of many issues.
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And when frustration boiled over, Hamilton and Wolff both fell foul of their own golden rule. With a pointed message to the team of Mercedes mechanics, Hamilton said back in March: “Last year, I told them the issues that are with the car.
“Like, I’ve driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn’t need. And I think it’s really about accountability, it’s about owning up and saying ‘Yeah, you know what, we didn’t listen to you, it’s not where it needs to be and we’ve got to work’.”
In an attempt to rally the troops and close the gap on Red Bull – as well as long-standing team principal foe Christian Horner – Wolff was similarly bullish when it came to criticising the car produced by Mercedes’ team of engineers.
The Austrian subsequently apologised publicly for being ‘too harsh’ on his team, but went on to break his own rule by placing blame on himself. “Fundamentally, it is all my fault,” he said. “If we have a bad pit stop, it is not because the mechanic has underperformed, it’s because his equipment is not up to the job or the training hasn’t been good enough or the wheel nuts are not how they should be.
“So in the end, you can always retrace where the problem is and generally, it is up to us to develop the person so the person can perform best in the role.”
Mercedes fans will hope that Hamilton and Wolff find it easier to resist placing blame in one place or another next season thanks to a more competitive car. The Silver Arrows breathed a sigh of relief when sewing up P2 in the Constructors’ Championship, but a 451-point gap to Red Bull could prove too much to overcome in such a short space of time.
