Toto Wolff said Mercedes has lost direct focus from former non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, especially during the difficulties of the last year and a half.
Three-time champion Lauda was an integral part of the dominant Mercedes team until his death in 2019.
Lauda was frequently at the races in that role and provided support to Wolff, while Lewis Hamilton has frequently stated the influential presence the Austrian had within the team.
Mercedes’ dominant streak of eight consecutive constructors’ titles was halted last year, with a victory in just one race, and they look even further away from challenging for the championship in 2023.
Asked how the team misses Lauda, Wolff said: “Niki missed all those years because Niki always kept things simple to what really mattered.
“I have to think about what he would have said and how he would have positioned (things), and the two of us work well together in that sometimes oversimplification can lead you directly to results.
“But there are a lot of nuances. This is a technical sport, so maybe my role was to translate it in a way that we could really execute on the design of the car.”
“But this is very simple: the timer never lies, and we see in the data where we are missing and that needs to be corrected.”
Mercedes has already ditched its radical 2023 concept after seeing how far off pace it was with Red Bull this year.
The team is expected to move towards Red Bull’s car design and has an update in preparation for the Imola race in May.
