Toto Wolff Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Mercedes have revealed their 2017 car – the W08 – at Silverstone on Thursday. Lewis Hamilton completed a handful of laps for filming day on a damp day on a set of wet Pirelli tires at the circuit that hosts the British Grand Prix. After a series of short stints he returned on slick rubber, ramping up the pace before pitting the car for the official launch. Valtteri Bottas also enjoyed a brief run in the afternoon, his first run with the team since moving overRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After Paddy Lowe’s shocking departure for Williams, Mercedes AMG Petronas has confirmed highly rated ex-Ferrari and Renault man James Allison will take the helm of technical director for the Silver Arrows. Allison brings a breadth of experience and is known as one of F1’s foremost experts on aerodynamics, something the 2017 regulations have put back in the spotlight. He worked at Benetton, Larrouusse, Ferrari during the Schumacher years, Renault during the Alonso years, Lotus during their brief resurgence with Raikkonen, and then Ferrari for the lastRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The 2017 Formula 1 season is drawing near and with it hopeful answers to the uncertainty that looms over it. The big elephant in the room is who will be replacing reigning world champion Nico Rosberg at Mercedes? Several speculate that Toto Wolff is set on bringing in Valtteri Bottas from Williams to pilot alongside Lewis Hamilton. Bottas is remarkably talented, but there are reasons to halt that idea and go a different direction. There is a good chance that whoever takes over the seat isRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Mercedes released a statement today confirming the widely held belief that their technical chief Paddy Lowe is leaving the team he helped steer to three consecutive championships. As we first reported one month ago, Lowe is bound for Williams, but contractual and financial negotiations have been complicated by Valtteri Bottas’ talks with Mercedes over Nico Rosberg’s vacated seat, and Felipe Massa’s potential return to the Grove based squad. Such news formally coming to light indicates that some manner of solution has been found at the crowded negotiation tableRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Brazilian media sources are now reporting that recently retired F1 driver Felipe Massa has signed a deal with Williams to return to the grid in 2017 for his former team. By doing so he paves the way for his old team mate Valtteri Bottas to join Mercedes and fill the vacancy left by Nico Rosberg’s surprise retirement. Massa, who announced his retirement in September at the Italian Grand Prix was apparently eager to come back and help his former team. Williams had a desperate need forRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Dashing the Christmas wishes of many drivers, Mercedes has announced that it will not name a successor to Nico Rosberg’s vacated seat till 2017. After newly crowned Rosberg announced his retirement, Mercedes has been in desperate straits to name his replacement ahead of the largest technical changes the sport has seen in 20 years. Much to their chagrin, top drivers Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel are under ironclad contracts with McLaren-Honda and Ferrari. Recently retired veterans like Jenson Button and Felipe Massa are not viable optionsRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Reports are starting to emerge that Valtteri Bottas is Mercedes main target as a replacement for recently retired world champion Nico Rosberg. In any other year this would be a slam dunk move, as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff manages Bottas and would gladly give a large discount to Williams on their Mercedes engines for the next season. Wolff has already made an offer as such, roughly $10 million off for Williams engine package for 2017, but Williams has said no. They did so because this isRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Mercedes technical director Paddy Lowe is on the verge of a shock move to Williams Martini Racing for 2017. Negotiations between Lowe and Williams have been rumored for some time, but a deal has not yet been announced. Lowe would replace Williams current technical director Pat Symonds who is ready for retirement after a career of much success and scandal, most notably crashgate in 2008, which crucially hurt recently retired Williams driver Felipe Massa’s championship bid that year. If Lowe goes he will be the second leadingRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Mercedes AMG Petronas drivers Nico Rosberg, and Lewis Hamilton have picked the exact same supply of tires for their championship showdown at Yas Marina for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Each of them will have four sets of softs, two sets of super-softs, and seven sets of the super sticky ultra-soft compounds for the weekend. The driver’s choices echo Mercedes’ boss Toto Wolff’s strategy of giving their drivers each an equal opportunity to claim the championship. Whoever wins will not claim the title by fluke ofRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief In report by ESPN F1, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff declared that he wants to keep driver Nico Rosberg on next season, but stated that neither he or the German are in a hurry to finalize a deal beyond this year. Rosberg has been on a tear, winning six consecutive races, including the opening three of the season. However, his recent form suggests that he would be a very sought after free agent should a deal with Mercedes not be reached,  something Wolff would like to prevent.Read More