Mercedes had a relatively disappointing last couple of years. Compared to their dominant 2014-2021 era, the last two seasons of struggling to get even a win have disappointed the fans of the team from Brackley. However, with the hopes of a better car for the 2024 season, they are sure a dominant force to be reckoned with to contend for championships.

After a few seasons of entering the sport, they were able to build not only a championship-winning car but a championship-winning team as well. Despite a turbulent couple of seasons, their caliber is pretty much still the same, for everyone looking at the team from the outside. Toto Wolff recently revealed the secret recipe for what makes Mercedes special.

Toto Wolff wants Mercedes to be a “Superstar” team

During a recent video published by the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team YouTube handle, Toto Wolff answered 13 fan questions, including what animal he likes and if he still takes the pumpernickel. However, one striking question left a lasting impact on the fans. “After a season of Highs and lows, how do you boost team morale?” While Wolff went into the different aspects of the team culture, where they have built an environment where everybody lifts everybody else, one comment really strikes the heart.

“We don’t want a team of superstars, we want a superstar team. That means working together is much more than being colleagues walking on a professional journey. There’s so much more to it. If we know we’re an organization that empowers, that we are a safe place, you can achieve so much more. Maybe not every single season, but overall in the long term you’re going to be in a much better place.”

We have witnessed this live during races where Toto Wolff comes on the radio when Lewis Hamilton is having a tough race, taking responsibility for a bad car, and motivating everyone to push for more. The fact that even when having two off-years in a row, they’re still the second-best team in the Constructors’ Championship speaks volumes.

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Hopefully, 2024 will be the year where the long-term goal is achieved, and they come back as a serious competitor for Red Bull again.

Is Mercedes back to contending for the title in 2024?

Despite the off-seasons, and thanks to the culture that Toto Wolff and co. have built inside the team, they might very well be on the way to contending for championships again. They are placing their complete trust in the James Allison-led engineering team to produce a race-winning car for the upcoming season. While we may not see for sure if their efforts have come to fruition till the Bahrain testing, Lewis Hamilton for one, is confident that they’ll come back stronger next year.

“I always go by the wind tunnel when I go to the factory and to see it evolving in whichever direction it ends up going. As soon as I was leaving, again I popped in just to see where we were and when I come back it’ll be again a different animal. But I have full faith in everyone that’s working on it and hopeful that we’ll be in a much more competitive position next year.”

He also stated that he strongly believes that the team will close the gap to Red Bull, even if Red Bull produces a great RB-20. ” (Red Bull) really raised the bar and we have a lot of work to close that gap. But I truly do believe that we can close that gap. And a big, big thank you to my team because they never gave up this year. We started off with the sister basically of the previous year’s car which was not good and not fun to drive for most of the year, but no one gave up.”

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The promise of an amazing 2024 season lies in wait, as Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes are confident of their chances going into the season.