How has Wolff done it? How has he led Mercedes to one victory after another? Last year my colleague David Moreno Vicente and I had a unique opportunity to study the team’s operations up close, by joining Wolff and his colleagues on the road and going behind the scenes during race weekends, where we watched them working in the garage, practicing pit stops, and conducting race-strategy meetings. And the Mercedes team under his leadership has every reason to claim the title of most successful team in the history of F1-and maybe in all of sports. Wolff, who assumed the position in 2013, is widely regarded as one of the best team principals F1 has ever seen. His role requires him to lead approximately 1,800 people, including an elite group of drivers, the engineers and mechanics who develop and manufacture the car and its engine, and other employees in various supporting functions. During that eight-year period, the team won nearly seven of every 10 Grand Prix races it competed in-a staggering feat.Īlthough that remarkable series of victories was a team effort, one person was at the helm of the organization throughout-Toto Wolff, the team principal. It has put together the longest winning streak the sport has ever seen: In the 2021 season Mercedes won its eighth consecutive Constructors’ Championship. Nonetheless, there is one team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas (or Mercedes, for short), that has managed to dominate F1 over the past decade. And because the FIA, motorsports’ governing body, regularly overhauls its regulations to increase F1’s competitiveness, putting together a string of championships is nearly impossible. It is even harder to rack up enough points in a season to win either a Drivers’ Championship (for the driver with the highest number of points, awarded according to the order in which cars finish a race) or a Constructors’ Championship (for the best overall team performance). Last year only four teams managed to win at least one Grand Prix. Everything-from the engineering of the car in the factory to the multitude of decisions made on the track during a race weekend-needs to come together in order to produce a victory. The sport is often decided by margins measured in thousandths of seconds. It is incredibly hard to win a Formula One race even once. Close to half a billion unique viewers tune in to F1’s television coverage throughout the season, and the action on the ground can attract as many as 400,000 live spectators. Each involves three days of events: practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, qualifying sessions or short-sprint qualifying races to determine starting positions later on Saturday, and the actual race on Sunday. The 2022 season features 22 “Grand Prix” weekends on five continents. Every season, from March to December, 10 F1 teams participate in races across the world. In this article, drawing on her observations of Wolff’s management style and practices, Elberse presents six lessons that can help any leader cultivate a winning team: (1) Set the highest standards for everyone (2) put people front and center (3) analyze mistakes continually-even when winning (4) foster an open, no-blame culture (5) trust superstars but maintain authority and (6) relentlessly battle complacency.įormula One (F1) is the most prestigious motor-racing competition on the planet. Elberse’s takeaway? What you say and do as a leader has a surprisingly powerful effect on the organization you run. She found that Wolff shapes the culture at Mercedes to a remarkable degree. To understand what made that possible, Harvard Business School’s Anita Elberse spent time with the team in 2021, conducting interviews and watching what went on behind the scenes before, during, and after races. Mercedes earned the Constructors’ Championship (for best overall team performance) every year from 2014 through 2021, and over that time frame it won nearly 70% of the Grand Prix races it competed in. Toto Wolff, the team principal for Mercedes-AMG Petronas-arguably the most impressive team in F1 racing history-has led his organization to unparalleled success.
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