Toto Wolff highlights importance of failure for Mercedes

Mercedes

Wolff highlights importance of failure for Mercedes

Lose and learn.

Martin Macdonald

Tuesday 9 July 2019 16:00 Updated: 16:27

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes that responding to a failure is just as important to the team as the way they experience success.

The Austrian has oversaw a period of huge success with the Silver Arrows as team principal, as they have won the constructors’ championship in five straight seasons from 2014 to 2018 - whilst enjoying a significant points lead in the 2019 campaign too.

They have also won every race but one this season, with Max Verstappen of Red Bull winning the last race in Austria for their only failure, but Wolff thinks it is vital that they learn from their shortcomings as well as their wins.

"The days we fail are the days we learn the most," he told BBC Sport.

"You never leave a track with a great victory saying: 'Why the hell did we win?' But you leave the track saying: 'Why the hell did we lose?'

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"Indeed the diligence of the analysis to leave no stone unturned is much deeper and intense when you have lost.

"The pain of losing lasts many days, probably up until the next race. The enjoyment of winning disappears on the Monday morning after the grand prix. And this has kept us going."

Wolff also reveals that the Mercedes crew rely heavily on meditation in order to cope with the physical and mental challenges up continuously competing at the highest level.

"There is a funny story,” he recalls.

“I have actually been quite into meditation for many years and I am an active practitioner. But when we started, we chose a group where we believed there would be some of the most hardcore, stubborn, hard-line engineers who would think this is some kind of tree-hugging exercise.

"We put them all in a room - there were about 20 of us - and you will be surprised to hear that after the full course, which was six or seven sessions, the ones we believed would drop out immediately because it was all just 'nonsense', they did the whole thing to the end and actually improved their mental wellbeing and their performance."