Mercedes F1 team axe major distraction

Toto Wolff

Mercedes axe F1 distraction

Toto Wolff's focus has changed

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 10 January 2026 22:55

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has confirmed a cutthroat decision within the team.

The Brackley-based outfit is one of F1's most valuable teams, valued at nearly $6billion, with Mercedes using their success to diversify their operations away from motorsport in recent years.

Mercedes F1 team have been supplying engineers to their INEOS-linked sailing in the America Cup, supporting Ben Ainslie’s team for the 2021 and 2024 competitions.

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Speaking to Forbes, however, Wolff confirmed that the team's America’s Cup sailing and technology consulting are being axed.

Instead, Wolff will focus entirely on Mercedes' F1 operations, and returning to the top of the order as the new regulations enter the sport for the 2026 season.

Wolff axes America Cup sailing programme

Wolff said: “We don’t want to do this anymore. We’re a Formula 1 racing team. We don’t want to go sailing. We don’t want to do any other sports. Complete focus [must be] on only Formula 1."

Mercedes fell from grace at the dawn of the ground effect era, making fundamental errors in their development, and are adamant this cannot happen again going into the new 2026 rules.

Alongside aerodynamic changes, which will introduce smaller and narrower cars, there will also be a change to power units, featuring increased electrical power and the cars will run on 100 per cent sustainable fuels.

Wolff's outfit will also have the most amount of customer teams to supply engines to in 2026, including themselves, McLaren, Williams and Alpine.

“This [2022] was the first time that we didn’t get it right,” Wolff continued, and then addressed the 2026 regulations: “That is what Formula 1 stands for: innovation, high tech, and being the fastest laboratory in the world.”

F1 Mercedes Toto Wolff