🏎️ Shakeup in team management

In this week’s email:

• Wolff signs 3-year extension 📝

• Steiner departs from Haas 😦

• Three teams announce car launch dates 🏎️

Toto Wolff signs 3-year extension 📝

Mercedes Principal Toto Wolff has signed a three-year deal that will make him principal until the 2026 season.

Wolff has been the team’s principal since 2013 and since taking over, he has won eight constructors championships.

Wolff stated, “At the end of the day, as a shareholder myself, I want the best return on investment. And the best return on investment is winning.”

Mercedes over the last two years under Wolff have had a difficult time battling for championships and didn’t win a race this past season. Their first winless season where a driver didn’t win a race since 2011.

Steiner departs from Haas 😦

This past Wednesday, Gunther Steiner has stepped away as team Principal at Haas for the past 10 year. Six weeks prior to the F1 season starting.

Steiner will be replaced by Ayao Komatsu who was previously the director of engineering at Haas.

Steiner told Sky Spots that he made a case for more investment in infrastructure to mirror their F1 rivals. As for what is next for Steiner, he stated that he is in no rush to take another F1 role.

Three teams announce car launch dates 🏎️

Mercedes, Red Bull, and Alpine announced car launch dates this past week. Below are detail about each cars launch date:

Mercedes - plans to release their W15 car on what is called to be a ‘digital launch event’ on February 14th at Silverstone.

Alpine - their fourth F1 car (A524) since their rebrand will release on February 7th.

Red Bull - the reigning champs will have their launch event at its team factory in Milton Keynes on February 15th.