Wolff denies ‘zero sidepod’ design decision played key role in Elliott exit
Elliott’s shock departure from Mercedes was announced earlier this week ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The 49-year-old was Mercedes chief technical officer after swapping roles with James Allison earlier this year.
Elliott was Mercedes technical director between 2021 and 2023, overseeing the design of the team’s infamous ‘zero sidepod’ design.
After a tough 2022 campaign, Mercedes shocked everyone by sticking with the no sidepods again for this year.
It proved to be the incorrect decision as Mercedes dropped behind Aston Martin - and further away from Red Bull.
However, Wolff has denied that it played a significant factor in Elliott’s departure.
“No, it’s never the decision of a single person,” Wolff said. “We as a group, we’re trying to build the quickest race car and obviously we were so far down the route with that concept of car that we thought maybe we’d get on top of it but we didn’t.
“That’s why we changed it and put lots of plasters on the car to be more competitive like we’ve seen now. That hasn’t got any correlation.”
Wolff was very complimentary of Elliott and the impact he made on the team during his 11-year stint.
“Mike was my number one employee for many, many years in terms of how he performed,” he added.
“We’re going to miss one of the most clever people in the industry. It was just a hard toll on him over those many years. I find it very remarkable that somebody can say ‘you know what I need to do something else’ rather than holding on to this. If anyone is strong and says ‘I am done with it’ it’s good.”
