When Toto Wolff held his annual media session with a select group of Dutch journalists at Zandvoort, one of the topics that came up was how a Formula 1 team can get the maximum out of a driver and, related to that, how much freedom a team principal should give a star driver.
The most recent example is Max Verstappen and the considerable freedom he is given at Red Bull, for instance with his own racing team and endurance adventures such as the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
As is well known, the Dutchman does that with a Mercedes-AMG GT3, although the question remains whether another F1 team – Mercedes, for example – would ever give a driver like Verstappen just as much freedom.
When Wolff is asked that question, he gives an almost philosophical answer, explaining that a team principal must always analyse the best approach to getting the maximum performance out of a particular driver – and must therefore try to understand his personality.
“I think every team is different, but I think what I am trying to do is to identify what it is that makes the driver fast within our structure,” Wolff said.
“What kind of framework do we need to provide to extract the best performance of the driver, and part of that is obviously the well-being. And that is something that I am very keen on as well.
“I have never put drivers in a box and have never said this is how you need to be.”
Max Verstappen, Mercedes-AMG GT3
Photo by: Miguel Reis / NurPhoto via Getty Images
“Toto, how on earth can you allow this?”
With Verstappen, that freedom involves competing in other racing series, but Wolff’s thoughts immediately go back to the most telling example from his own career as an F1 team boss: Hamilton’s passion for fashion, particularly in the build-up to the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix.
“I remember Lewis Hamilton with his fashion collection back in the day and there was this Singapore race. I remember it was 2018 or 2019, when he launched his Tommy Hilfiger collection,” Wolff recounted.
“He had a fashion show in Shanghai where he FaceTimed us. He was grateful that Mercedes changed from Boss to Hilfiger to allow him to have his own collection. He showed everything and said, look at this, this is my catwalk, this is my collection. I can’t believe it!”
The fashion show in Shanghai took place on 4 September, but Hamilton did not immediately head to Singapore afterwards. In between, he still had New York Fashion Week on his schedule to present his collection in the US.
“And then he flew from Shanghai to LA or New York, and did it there,” Wolff recalls. “Niki Lauda said to me back in the day, I cannot comprehend why you allow this. We are racing in Singapore next weekend, so how is this even possible?”
The criticism intensified when Hamilton’s journey to Singapore was delayed and he was set to arrive late for the first engineering meeting.
Hamilton arrived late in Singapore after the fashion shows, but Wolff defended his driver against criticism
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
“Lewis said that he needed to do another stopover in London or so, I don’t even remember. He calls me on Wednesday and says that it will be touch and go, arriving on Thursday for the first engineering meeting.
“I replied, do me a favour, because I’m already getting lots of shit here for you doing a 360 around the world in funky clothes!
“But then he called me again and said, I’m late, the flight has been delayed. So Niki says to me, I really can’t believe how you can allow that.”
“Lewis, please don’t let me down this weekend”
What followed, however, was telling in two respects: firstly, in Wolff’s willingness to protect his drivers and give them freedom, and secondly, in how Hamilton then repaid that trust on track.
“When he arrived, I said, ‘Lewis, do me a favour. I’ll take it from you here, I’ll take all the criticism from everyone, but just don’t let me down this weekend.’
“Understood, he said, and this is when he had this unbelievable pole position. There was that sensational lap and then he won the race, disappearing in the distance.
Hamilton repaid Wolff’s trust in Singapore and went on to clinch his fifth world title just over a month later
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
“After the race he came back to me and said, that was a good deal, no?”
Wolff concludes with a laugh that from that moment on, even Lauda was fine with what Hamilton did away from the track, as long as it did not negatively affect his performance on it.
“Niki said to me afterwards, ‘I’m never going to criticise it anymore, even if he flies to the moon before a race!'”
Hamilton took pole in Singapore by more than three tenths of a second over Verstappen and six tenths over title rival Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes driver won Sunday’s race by almost nine seconds from Verstappen and would secure his fifth world title just over a month later in Mexico.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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