Mercedes will be operating without Toto Wolff, with the team principal expected to miss the first race of the season.
Toto Wolff will miss the Japanese Grand Prix on the first weekend of April, as the Mercedes team principal has chosen to sit out the race.
Toto Wolff to miss Japanese GP
Wolff is used to missing the occasional Grand Prix, missing last year's Japan and Qatar rounds as he recovered from knee surgery.
The Austrian is scheduled to be absent from the Japanese Grand Prix on April 7th, but the decision to be absent was made in the season schedule before the start of the season and has nothing to do with the team's scoreless record. . Australia.
When Wolff is not at the ground during a race weekend, which is normal, he will be connected remotely to the team from his home in Monaco and his duties will be divided among the senior members attending the race track. That will happen.
Following the departure of James Bowles to Williams at the end of 2022, director of driver development Jerome D'Ambrosio was looking for an effective on-the-ground successor to Wolff. However, the Belgian is set to leave Mercedes at the end of this season. He decided to return home during the winter.
Wolff has previously revealed that he intends to reduce his direct involvement at racetracks over the next few years.
“The clear aim is to build for the future and that is my full responsibility for the team,” Wolff told PA in 2023.
“A stone might fall on my head, but what happens after that?'' That's why in a few years I hope to find myself not competing in 24 races, but 15.
“But that's many years away. I see myself in this role for a long time. I can't imagine doing anything else.”
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