So what is behind Mercedes' dominance in Formula 1?

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile President, Jean Todt (ex-team principal of Ferrari during Schumacher's dominance) considers Mercedes F1 to be “remarkable". This is a sentiment shared by AlphaTauri team principle Franz Tost, who believes “Mercedes is the best team ever. Better than McLaren-Honda in the days of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost and more dominant than Ferrari in the Michael Schumacher era". So with such high praise it leaves us to ask, what's the magic formula of this particular GOAT team?

There does appear to be a very obvious correlation between Mercedes' success and certain organisational changes within their F1 set-up. With that in mind, the appointment of Torger Christian "Toto" Wolff as Head of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team in 2013 has made a huge difference. In short, Toto appears to have been the catalyst in perfecting the discipline of winning and relegating the remaining F1 teams to a jostle for second place. So how did the Austrian venture capitalist move the dial from good to great?

1. A Focus on Systems Performance

Mercedes recognises that success is dependent upon system's performance over a concentration on siloed elements. For example, Mercedes' engines are considered to be the most powerful on the grid (also powering Williams and Force India), but the reason the team excel is down to the integration of that single component within the bigger picture (they don't just build around an engine). Wolff believes that a racing team's success is due to "a handful of key parameters you need to make interact with each other: financial resources, people, drivers, engines, infrastructure, partnerships, and most importantly, time". The lesson here: dominant and sustainable competitive advantage is made from more than a single USP.

2. Find The Marginal Gains in Imperfection

The Mercedes engineering objective is to build a "90% car" within which performance is intentionally sacrificed for agility. This means that the design, development and construction of the car is engineered to maintain continuous excellence in a wide variety of conditions, rather than optimising perfection in a limited few. This ideology combines with Toto's obsession with continuous improvement through marginal gains which means that "We try to improve the car every time we hit the track". The lesson here: it is critical that the team is completely focussed on optimisation, but only in alignment with a systems-focussed strategic 'game plan'.

3. Constantly Review the Process and Foster Shared Commitment

The Mercedes team operates on a philosophy of accountability to the collective. Within such an environment the pressure to deliver is self-generated and founded upon a culture of mutual-respect. Toto states that, "What we do now is support people. We don't blame individuals. We blame problems". He goes on to explain, "We try to provide a safe place in our team. You are allowed to make mistakes and call them out and it means you’re not scared for your job and can feel comfortable". The lesson here: the team functions as a single entity where the informal psychological contract supersedes any formal employment contract.

In summary, Mercedes have mastered ingenuity and human performance by instilling an ideology where the desire to win overrides any thought of individual achievement. Toto believes that "When there's no clear right answer to a challenging situation, it is our values that guide us and provide the template for the decisions we make - the professional values that sit at the heart of our team and the personal values that make us the people we are". I guess that begs the timely question of what are the values that sit at the heart of your team that power decisions during challenging times?

So to end with a little fun...here's Toto and his wife (Susie Wolff, an accomplished racing driver in her own right - from my very own home country) 'enjoying' a couples lap in the safety car at Suzuka lol! Married bliss (of some form or other!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGtBBTjunc0