Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff To Miss Next Race- Japanese Grand Prix
F1Tuesday, 26 March 2024 at 09:00
Mercedes's team principal will miss the fourth race of the 2024 season, the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit.
The team principal has personally attended every single event this year so far, from the pre-season testing to the most recent Australian Grand Prix.
However, the 52-year-old will be absent during the next F1 race in Japan. It has been suggested that Wolff's absence has nothing to do with his team's current performance and that he made the decision prior to the start of the season.
Last year, the team principal left out two of the 22 Grand Prix weekends—the Japanese and the Qatar Grand Prix—because he was recovering from knee surgery.
It might have been at that moment that he realized that he needed to prepare his team for his absence because he later told the media that he planned to scale down his in-person involvement at the race track over the next few years. Told PA last year:
The clear aim is to build a structure for the future and that is my sheer responsibility for the team. A stone could fall on my head and how does it look afterwards? That is why I would like to see myself in a few years maybe not going to 24 races, and just to 15.
"But that is many years away. I see myself in this role for a long time. I cannot imagine doing something else."
While he made it clear he doesn't plan to step down from his position anytime soon, the Austrian team principal seems to want his team to be prepared if it comes to that.
The Japanese Grand Prix will perhaps be the first of the multiple-race weekends that the team principal plans not to attend. Nevertheless, the Mercedes boss is expected to be connected remotely from his home in Monaco.
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