Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari for next year means that Mercedes is on the hunt for a new team-mate for George Russell.
There are two different paths that the team can go down: hunting out the best experienced driver it can to help its push to the front, or throwing everything behind its rising junior star Andrea Kimi Antonelli to get him up to speed.
On the experienced front, the German manufacturer has already been linked with Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel – but is well aware that its hopes of convincing them to join will depend on it lifting its current performance levels.
While its struggles could lean it more towards opting for Antonelli as it would give the youngster some time to bed in without pressure to deliver wins from the off, Wolff is not so convinced that the decision is as obvious as that.
“You can look at it from various perspectives,” he said, when asked about the driver decision.
“I believe that we are in a rebuild phase. You need to acknowledge that now three years into these regulations, we have got to do things differently than we've done in the past without throwing overboard what we believe is goodness in the way we operate.
“It could mean putting a young driver in there and giving him an opportunity with less pressure than fighting for victories immediately, or putting a more experienced driver in the car that can help us dig ourselves out of the current performance picture.”
With Antonelli already part of its junior stable, Mercedes does not need to rush its decision on what to do with the Italian - so it can sit and wait and see how the future of other options, like Verstappen, plays out.
Source: Autosport