Toto Wolff recalls Late F1 legend Niki Lauda’s ‘motto’ over Mercedes 2025 car dilemma

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed Niki Lauda's mindset over rule changes in F1 as the Silver Arrows try to find a balance for 2025 and 2026.

Toto Wolff recalls Late F1 legend Niki Lauda’s ‘motto’ over Mercedes 2025 car dilemma

Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda (images via IMAGO)

Mercedes struggled at the start of F1’s ground-effect era. However, things seemed promising in 2024 after Lewis Hamilton ended his 945-day win drought in the sport. Unfortunately, the Silver Arrows have fallen behind McLaren and Red Bull in the last few races. Now, Toto Wolff has recalled Late F1 champion Niki Lauda‘s words over the current situation.

Wolff’s team faces a dilemma for the 2025 car. Mercedes could either focus properly on next year’s car and hope to fight for the world title. On the other hand, the Silver Arrows could try and shift focus early on 2026 in hopes of a quick car for the rule shake-up. However, this would mean that the team would need to sacrifice the 2025 season.

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Toto Wolff brought up Niki Lauda‘s comments. Lauda was the non-Executive Chairman of the Mercedes team and ran the squad alongside the Austrian billionaire. Wolff recalled that when he would ask the late F1 champion if he would like to win the current year or the next, he would simply state that he aims to win both.

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I’d like to take it from Niki’s motto, when being asked, ‘Would you rather win this one or the next one?’ And he says, ‘Both.’

Toto Wolff told Autosport

Toto Wolff pinpoints ‘crux of the matter’ for every F1 rule change

Rule changes are a part of Formula 1. New regulations shake-up the pecking order and bring in new advancements to the sport. 2026 will be a major overhaul with the first changes to the power unit since 2014. Toto Wolff emphasized that the crux of the matter for teams is just that if it is willing to give up on one season for the other. As focusing more on the new rules could pay dividends in the long run.

Toto Wolff
Toto Wolff (via IMAGO)

This is the crux of the matter every year, and especially if you have such a big regulatory change, are you going to compromise one year or the other?

Toto Wolff asserted

Certainly, every F1 team faces the same problem over the 2026 rules. Fans can expect teams in the lower half of the grid to shift focus early in a bid to boost their prospects for the new era. However, for a team like Mercedes, they need to ensure that they still have a good car for the new rules without compromising too much on next year’s machinery.