Wolff a ‘strong presence’ at Mercedes despite absence

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was physically absent from the Brackley squad’s garage in Japan and in Qatar but virtually omnipresent in the team at every session and debrief.

Wolff was forced to take a leave of absence in the wake of a long overdue knee operation that required several weeks of recovery and rehabilitation.

As a consequence, the Austrian’s lanky figure was missing from his command post in the Mercedes garage at Suzuka and Lusail where assistant team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio took over part of Wolff’s responsibilities on the ground.

However, thanks to a remote set-up, the Mercedes boss was able to follow his team’s every move from the comfort of his home in Monaco and intervene whenever necessary as he indeed did in Qatar where Wolff chimed in over the radio to encourage George Russell to collect his thoughts and press on in the wake of his first corner clash with Lewis Hamilton.

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“He’s in Monaco,” explained Mercedes Communications Director Bradley Lord. “The doctors after his knee surgery before Japan advised him not to not to jump on the plane but just to rest his knee so that he's fit and well for the last five races.

“He’s got exactly the setup that we have in the garages at home and so he's able to follow in real-time and participate in real-time as well.”

Lord said that Wolff, who is expected to return to his command post at next week’s US Grand Prix in Austin, was able during the last two race weekend’s to tune in and take part in every debrief session with the team from the comfort of his home.

“He’s been in every meeting, virtually in all of the strategy discussions and then debriefs as well,” said Lord.

“So he's not been physically here but has been a strong presence in the team. So from that point of view, it's run as normally as it can be when he's not been able to travel.

“But he's played his usual part in all of those discussions as well.”

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